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BUDDHIST    CHINA 


BUDDHIST    CHINA 


BY  REGINALD   FLEMING   JOHNSTON 

AUTHOR  OF 
"LION  AND  DRAGON  IN  NORTHERN  CHINA,"  ETC. 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS 


LONDON : 

JOHN    MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE   STREET,  W. 

1913 


[All  rights  reserved.] 


a 


ft  *  ft  ft 

Abstain  from  all  evil, 

In  all  things  act  virtuously, 

Be  pure  in  mind  : 

This  is  the  religion  of  the  Buddhas. 

—From  the  COMMANDMENTS  SUTRA. 


tt  •  ft   fit 
ff    ff    «F    ff 

ft    *    »    A 


Z^<?  good  deeds  ; 
Read  good  books  ; 
Speak  good  'words. 

—  Inscription  carved  on  rock  near  Buddhist 
monastery  of  Ku  -  shan,  Fuhkien 
Province. 


ABBREVIATIONS 

B.N.     Bunyiu  Nanjio's  Catalogue  of  the  Chinese  Translation  of  the 
Buddhist  Tripitalca.     (Oxford,  Clarendon  Press,  1883.) 

E.R.E.     Encyclopedia    of  Religion    and    Ethics,   edited    by    James 
Hastings.     (Edinburgh,  T.   &  T.  Clark.) 

Har.     The  Hardoon  edition  of  the  Chinese  Buddhist  "Canon." 

(See  Preface.) 

J.R.  A.S.     Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society. 

S.B.E.     The  Sacred    Books    of   the    East,   edited  by   Max   Muller. 
(Oxford,  Clarendon  Press.) 

St 
J*  V' 


VI 


PREFACE 

THE  early  chapters  of  this  book  deal  with  the 
origin  and  development  of  some  characteristic 
features  of  Mahayana  Buddhism,  especially  in 
respect  of  the  forms  assumed  by  that  branch  of 
the  Buddhist  system  in  its  Chinese  environment. 
The  sixth  and  seventh  chapters  are  concerned 
with  religious  pilgrimages  in  China,  and  with 
those  sacred  mountains  which  are  the  homes  of 
Chinese  monasticism  arid  the  radiating  centres 
of  Buddhist  influence.  Of  these  favoured  seats 
of  religious  activity,  the  six  last  chapters  contain 
detailed  accounts  of  two  which  are  taken  as 
typical — namely,  the  holy  mountain  of  Chiu-hua, 
in  the  province  of  Anhui,  and  the  holy  island  of 
Puto  (Pootoo),  off  the  coast  of  Chehkiang. 

An  accomplished  writer  on  Oriental  Art — the 
late  Ernest  Fenollosa — has  observed  that  "  a  very 
large  part  of  the  finest  thought  and  standards 
of  living  that  have  gone  into  Chinese  life,  and 
the  finest  part  of  what  has  issued  therefrom  in 
literature  and  art,  have  been  strongly  tinged  with 
Buddhism."  The  truth  and  justice  of  this  remark 


Vll 


viii  PREFACE 

will  not  be  gainsaid  by  those  Western  students 
who  have  succeeded  in  finding  their  way  into 
the  treasure  -  house  of  Chinese  poetry,  or  have 
fallen  under  the  potent  witchery  of  Chinese 
landscape  painting.  Those  of  China's  foreign 
friends  who  long  to  see  not  only  the  political 
regeneration  of  this  great  country,  but  also  a 
brilliant  revival  of  creative  activity  in  art  and 
letters,  can  hardly  fail  to  take  a  keen  and  sym 
pathetic  interest  in  the  fortunes  of  that  wonderful 
creed,  or  system  of  creeds,  which  for  at  least 
fifteen  centuries  has  exercised  so  powerful  an 
influence — artistic  and  philosophic  no  less  than 
religious  and  ethical — over  the  heart  and  mind 
of  China. 

It  is  too  soon  yet  to  say  whether  the  forces 
set  in  motion  by  the  Revolution — or  rather  the 
forces  of  which  the  political  revolution  was  one 
of  the  manifestations — will  bring  about  the  total 
collapse  of  Buddhism  in  China.  Judging  from 
the  present  activity  of  the  Buddhists  themselves, 
it  seems  more  likely  that  what  we  are  about  to 
witness  is  not  a  collapse,  but  at  least  a  partial 
revival  of  Buddhism.  Those  Western  observers 
who  fancy  that  the  Buddhist  religion  in  China  is 
inextricably  associated  with  old-fashioned  and  dis 
credited  political  and  social  conventions  in  general, 
and  with  the  corruptions  of  the  Manchu  dynasty 
in  particular,  have  a  very  imperfect  knowledge 
of  Chinese  history  and  of  the  past  relations 
of  Buddhism  with  the  Chinese  body  -  politic. 


PREFACE  ix 

Buddhists  had  no  cause  to  regret  the  overthrow 
of  the  Manchus,  to  whom  they  were  bound  by 
no  ties  of  sympathy,  gratitude,  or  self-interest ; 
and  if  the  rulers  of  the  New  China  honourably 
adhere  to  their  declared  policy  of  complete 
religious  freedom,  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
Buddhists  should  not  look  forward  to  taking  a 
distinguished  part  in  the  future  progress  of  their 
country  in  respect  of  its  social,  artistic,  and 
spiritual  interests. 

It  may  be  that  the  present  activity  of  the 
Chinese  Buddhists  has  been  inspired  to  some 
extent  from  Japan,  as  for  example  in  the  matter 
of  the  recent  creation  of  a  central  organization 
(the  Fo  -  chiao  Tsung  Hui)  which  has  been 
established  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the 
legitimate  interests  of  the  Buddhist  faith.  But 
the  admirably  -  edited  Buddhist  magazines,  the 
Fo-tisueh  Ts'ung-pao  and  the  Fo-chiao  Yiieh-pao, 
which  have  made  their  appearance  during  the 
past  year,  furnish  ample  evidence  that  the  move 
ment  (which  is  very  largely  a  reform  movement) 
is  genuinely  and  fundamentally  Chinese ;  and  this 
is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  creation  of  the 
Tsung  Hui  itself  (which  might  be  described  as  a 
National  Buddhist  Synod  or  Representative  Church 
Council)  has  met  with  the  hearty  approbation  of 
Buddhists  in  all  parts  of  the  empire,  and  that 
in  many  localities  branch  Councils  (composed,  like 
the  parent  Council,  of  both  laymen  and  ordained 
monks)  have  been  already  successfully  established. 


x  PREFACE 

Though  it  is  too  early  to  say  whether  this 
movement  will  lead  to  any  permanent  results, 
it  is  certainly  not  of  mushroom  growth ;  nor  can 
it  be  said  to  be  a  mere  by-product  either  of 
revolutionary  excitement  or  of  reactionary  caprice. 
Evidence  of  this  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
during  the  past  decade  an  influential  group  of 
Chinese  Buddhists  has  been  quietly  at  work 
producing  a  new  complete  edition  of  that  pro 
digious  collection  of  Buddhistic  literature  which  is 
usually  but  inaccurately  referred  to  as  the  Chinese 
Buddhist  Canon.  This  great  work,  having  occupied 
a  large  staff  of  editors  and  printers  for  several 
years  past,  has  been  quite  recently  (1913)  brought 
to  a  happy  conclusion. 

Perhaps  the  most  prominent  among  the  learned 
and  able  Buddhists  whose  names  are  honourably 
associated  with  this  undertaking  is  a  native  of 
the  district  of  Ch'ang-shu,  in  Kiangsu.  He 
entered  the  Buddhist  monkhood  at  the  age  of 
twenty -one,  and  was  given  the  monastic  name 
of  Tsung-yang.  He  is  a  man  of  varied  culture, 
has  travelled  widely  in  both  China  and  Japan, 
and  is  a  writer  of  vigorous  prose  and  graceful 
verse.  Like  all  true  Buddhists,  he  shows  him 
self  tolerant,  charitable,  and  courteous  towards 
those  whose  religious  beliefs  are  different  from 
his  own.  He  belongs  to  the  Monastery  of 
Ch'ing-liang,  on  the  Wu-mu-shan — a  mountain 
not  far  from  Soochow ;  but  since  1903  his 
various  duties  have  required  him  to  reside  in 


PREFACE  xi 

Shanghai,  where  he  and  his  colleagues  have 
been  the  guests  of  well-known  Shanghai  residents 
— Mr  and  Mrs  S.  A.  Hardoon. 

If  it  is  mainly  through  the  inspiring  influence  of 
a  small  group  of  enthusiastic  monks  and  laymen 
that  the  republication  of  the  "  Canon "  has  been 
successfully  carried  out,  the  thanks  of  all  Buddhists, 
and  of  all  students  of  Buddhism,  are  also  due 
to  Tsung-yang's  munificent  hosts  and  patrons, 
who  not  only  provided  accommodation  for  him 
self  and  his  colleagues,  amid  the  flowers  and 
trees  that  are  dear  to  the  hearts  of  all  Buddhists, 
but  also  ensured  the  success  of  this  very  costly 
undertaking  by  their  generous  donations  and 
financial  guarantees.  The  completed  work,  which 
is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  following  pages 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Hardoon "  edition  of 
the  Buddhist  scriptures,  deserves  to  find  its  way 
into  the  hands  of  all  serious  students  of  Chinese 
Buddhist  literature. 

The  author  is  glad  to  record  his  grateful 
appreciation  of  the  unvarying  courtesy  and 
hospitality  extended  to  him  by  the  abbots  and 
monks  in  whose  romantic  mountain  -  homes  he 
has  spent  the  happiest  days  of  his  fifteen  years' 
sojourn  in  China.  Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate 
fate  of  Buddhism,  he  earnestly  hopes  that  neither 
his  kindly  hosts  nor  their  successors  will  ever  be 
driven  away  from  the  quiet  hermitages  which 
they  so  justly  love;  and  that  it  may  continue 
to  be  China's  glory  and  privilege  to  provide, 


xii  PREFACE 

amid  the  forests  and  crags  and  waterfalls  of  her 
cloistral  mountains,  homes  or  resting  -  places 
for  all  pilgrims  to  the  shrines  of  truth  and 
beauty. 

R.  F.  J. 
WEIHAIWEI, 
15th  April  1913. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.    THE    "THREE    RELIGIONS"    OF    CHINA               .  1 

II.    BUDDHISM    UNDER    ASOKA    AND    KANISHKA    .  20 

III.    EARLY    BUDDHISM    AND    ITS    PHILOSOPHY        .  36    ^ 
!)O\ 

(IV.    THE    IDEALS    OF    HINAYANA   AND  MAHAYANA  56    > 

V     BUDDHIST    SCHOOLS    AND    SECTS    IN    CHINA   .  82        V 

— x  _.j  i in  • 

VI.    PILGRIMAGES     AND     THE    SACRED     HILLS     OF 

BUDDHISM              .             .             .             .             .  122  V' 

vii.    "  THE  PILGRIM'S  GUIDE  "           ...  149 

VIII.    TI-TSANG    PUSA              .             .             .             .             .  170 
1^.    THE    PRINCE-HERMIT    OF    CHIU-HUA  AND    HIS 

SUCCESSORS          .....  207 

^.    MONKS    AND    MONASTERIES    OF    CHIU-HUA      .  230 

XI.  PUTO-SHAN  AND  KUAN- YIN  PUSA 

XII.  THE  MONASTIC  HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN      .  312 
XIII.  THE      "  NORTHERN      MONASTERY  "      AND 

"  BUDDHA'S  PEAK  "   .         .         ,         .  356 

INDEX     .  391 


xi  n 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Kuan-yin  (from  painting  by  a  Chinese  monk)     *    ,        .          Frontispiece 

Archway  at  the  Pi-yiin  Temple,  Western  Hills             .      Facing  p.  10 

Archway  at  the  Wo-Fo  Temple,  Western  Hills            ,;  „  10 

Part  of  the  Archway  at  the  Pi-yiin  Temple       ..  ./     .'..,,         „  20 

Stupa  at  the  Pi-yiin  Temple       .             .             .          ,  »  „  30 
Archway  in  Grounds  of  Old  Summer  Palace,  Western 

Hills            .             .             .            .             .             f  „  42 

Pagoda,  Western  Hills  .             .             ;             .             .  „  42 

Hsi-yii  Monastery,  Chihli  .  .  .  .  ,,50 

Tombs  of  Monks,  Hsi-yii  Monastery      .             .           ;...  99  50 

Pagoda  at  Hsi-yii  Monastery,  Chihli      .             .         •    ;  \  -         „  58 
Pavilion    at    Hsiao    Hsi  -  t'ien    (' '  Little   Heaven "), 

Chihli          .             .             .             .  ,.         .             .  „  70 

In  the  Shang-fang  Hills,  Chihli             .         "...           .  99  70 

Temples  on  the  Shang-fang  Hills,  Chihli           .         :„..  „  78 

Bodhidharma      .             .         :    ,             .             .             .  „  84 

The  White-deer  Grotto,  Lu-shan,  Kiangsi        .             .  93  92 
Images  of  Mencius  and  Tseng-Tzu  at  the  White-deer 

Grotto,  Kiangsi       .             .             .             ,             .  „  92 

Amitabha  Buddha          .            'V            .             .             .  9i  98 

The  Ship  of  Salvation    .             .           ,-.             .             .  )9  104 

Form  for  recording  utterances  of  the  name  of  Amitabha  „  112 

The  Western  Heaven     .             .             ,,           .             .  „  120 

Rock-carvings  at  Lung-men,  Honan      .             .             .  99  132 

Colossal  figure  at  Lung-men,  Honan     .             .          •  .  )}  140 

Colossal  rock-cut  figures  at  Lung-men,  Honan              .  99  140 
Rock-cut  colossal  figure  of  a  Bodhisat  at  Lung-men, 

Honan         .                         .            .             .             .  99  152 

Lu-shan,  Kiangsi  .  .  .  .  .  ,,162 

Mountain  and  Stream,  Southern  Anhui             .            .  3J  162 

Jizo  (Ti-tsang  Pusa)       .             .  .       ...»             .             .  „  172 

At  the  Southern  Base  of  Chiu-hua         .             .             .  )y  J82 

A  Mountain  Stream,  Chiu-hua  .             .            •            .  })  jg2 

Jizo  (Ti-tsang  Pusa)        .             •             .             .             .  j,  194 

The  Hearts  of  Men        .            «            •            «            •  „  206 

XV 


xvi  LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Charm  used   at  Chiu-hua  when  offering  prayers  for 

offspring      ....                           .     Facing  p.  220 

Chiu-hua-shan  (from  the  north-west)     .  234 
Central  cluster  of  Monastic  Buildings,  Chiu-hua  (from 

the  Eastern  Ridge)              .  „  234 

Eastern  Ridge  and  T'ien-t'ai,  Chiu-hua  „  240 

The  Pai-sui  Monastery,  Chiu-hua          .  „  240 

Protective  Charms  from  T'ien-t'ai,  Chiu-hua-shan        .  „  244 

Hui-chou  city  and  Bridge           .             .  „  258 

On  the  Ch'ien-t'ang  River,  Chehkiang  „  258 

Sketch  map  of  Puto-shan            .                          .  „  264 

The  Fa-tfang,  Southern  Monastery        .  „  268 

T'ien-Hou,  the  Taoist  Queen  of  Heaven,  Puto-shan     .  „  268 

Pavilion  in  front  of  Southern  Monastery           .  „  276 
Courtyard  in  front  of  Great  Hall  of  Kuan-yin,  Southern 

Monastery                ;  »  276 

Chun-tfi  .  .  „ 

A  Hermit  of  Puto  at  the  door  of  his  Hermitage            .  „  280 

Kuan-yin  Pusa  (drawn  in  blood  hy  a  Hermit  of  Puto-shan)      „  296 

Kuan-yin  as  "  Compassionate  Father "  „  310 

Inscribed  Rock  near  summit  of  Puto-shan         .  „  320 

The  Chusan  Islands,  from  Puto-shan     .  „  320 

The  Prince's  Pagoda,  Puto        .  „  328 

The  Hall  of  Imperial  Tablets,  Southern  Monastery      .  „  328 

The  Kuan-yin- tung  and  other  Temples,  Puto-shan       .  „ 

A  Pilgrims' Pathway,  Puto        .             .  „  348 

The  Lotus-Pond  of  the  "  Southern  Monastery "  „  348 

The  Yu-t'ang  Road,  showing  rock-carved  figures  „  358 

The  Lotus-Pond  of  the  Northern  Monastery     .  „  358 

Within  the  grounds  of  the  Northern  Monastery  „  372 

An  alabaster  image  of  Buddha,  Puto-shan  „  372 

The  Grave  of  the  abbot  Hsin-chen  „  380 
A   Pfu-tfung-tfa   (for  the   reception  of  the  ashes  of 

deceased  monks)                  «  »  380 

A  Monastery  Garden,  Puto-shan            .  ,,  388 

Courtyard  in  the  Northern  Monastery,  Puto-shan        .  „  388 


BUDDHIST  CHINA 
CHAPTER  I 

THE    "  THREE    RELIGIONS  "    OF    CHINA 

WITHIN  the  grounds  of  one  of  the  most  famous 
Buddhist  monasteries  in  China — Shaolin  in  Honan 
—  may  be  seen  two  stone  tablets  inscribed 
with  pictorial  statements  of  a  doctrine  that  is 
familiar  to  all  students  of  Chinese  religion  and 
philosophy — the  triunity  of  the  San  chiao,  or  Three 
Doctrinal  Systems  of  Buddhism,  Confucianism, 
and  Taoism.  On  one  of  these  tablets,  the  date 
of  which  corresponds  to  the  year  1565  of  our  era, 
there  is  the  incised  outline  of  a  venerable  man 
holding  an  open  scroll  on  which  a  number  of 
wavy  lines  like  tongues  of  flame  converge  and 
blend.  The  old  man's  draperies  are  symmetrically 
arranged,  and  his  crouching  figure  is  skilfully  made 
to  assume  the  appearance  of  a  circle,  the  centre 
of  which  is  occupied  by  the  open  scroll.  The 
whole  drawing  is  surrounded  by  a  larger  circle, 
which  signifies  ideal  unity  and  completeness,  or 
represents  the  spherical  monad  of  Chinese  cosmo- 
logical  philosophy.  The  other  tablet,  which  is 


2      THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF  CHINA      [OH.- 

more  than  seven  hundred  years  old,  is  of  a  less 
symbolical  or  mystical  character.  It  shows  us 
the  figures  of  the  representatives  of  the  three 
systems  standing  side  by  side.  Sakyamuni  Buddha 
occupies  the  place  of  honour  in  the  centre.  His 
head  is  surrounded  by  an  aureole,  from  which  issues 
an  upward-pointing  stream  of  fire,  and  beneath  his 
feet  sacred  lotus-flowers  are  bursting  into  bloom. 
On  the  left  of  the  central  figure  stands  Lao-chiin, 
the  legendary  founder  of  Taoism,  and  on  the 
right  stands  China's  "  most  holy  sage  " — Confucius. 
The  words  which  are  ordinarily  used  to  sum 
up  the  theory  of  the  triunity  of  the  three  ethico- 
religious  systems  of  China  are  San  chiao  i  t'i — the 
Three^jCults  ^incorporated  in  one  organism  or 
embodying  one  doctrine.1  The  idea  has  found 
fanciful  expression  in  the  comparison  of  the 
culture  and  civilization  of  China  with  a  bronze 
sacrificial  bowl,  of  which  the  three  "  religions  "  are 
the  three  legs,  all  equally  indispensable  to  the 
tripod's  stability. 

Such  teachings  as  these  are  abhorrent  to  the 
strictly  orthodox  Confucian,  who  holds  that  the 
social  and  moral  teachings  of  Confucius  are  all  that 
humanity  requires  for  its  proper  guidance ;  but 
they  meet  with  ungrudging  acceptance  from  vast 
numbers  of  Buddhists  and  Taoists,  who,  while 
giving  precedence  to  their  own  cults,  are  always 
tolerant  enough  to  recognise  that  Confucianism, 
if  somewhat  weak  on  the  religious  side,  is  strong 


i.]  THE   SAGE   FU   HSI  3 

and  rich  on  the  ethical  side.  They  find  an  echo, 
indeed,  in  the  hearts  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
Chinese  people,  who  show  by  their  beliefs  and 
practices  that  they  can  be  Buddhists,  Taoists,  and 
Confucians  all  at  the  same  time. 

A  vivid  and  picturesque  statement  of  this  truth 
is  contained  in  a  quaint  little  story  which  is  told 
of  a  certain  sixth-century  scholar  named  Fu  Hsi. 
This  learned  man  was  in  the  habit  of  going  about 
dressed   in    a   whimsical    garb   which    included   a 
Taoist  cap,  a  Buddhist  scarf,  and  Confucian  shoes. 
His   strange   attire   aroused   the   curiosity  of  the 
Chinese  emperor  of  those  days,  who  asked  him 
if  he  were  a  Buddhist.     Fu  Hsi  replied  by  point 
ing  to  his  Taoist  cap.     "  Then  you  are  a  Taoist  ?  " 
said  the  emperor.     Fu  Hsi  again  made  no  verbal 
answer,    but    pointed     to    his    Confucian    shoe?. 
"  Then  you  are  a  Confucian  ? "  said  the  emperor. 
But  the  sage  merely  pointed  to  his  Buddhist  scarf. 
It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  sixth  century  to  the 
twentieth.     The  China  of  to-day  has  crossed,  for 
weal  or  woe,  the  threshold  of  a  new  era.     What 
has  been  true   of  the  Chinese  in   past   ages   will 
not   necessarily   continue    to    be    true   in   future. 
Will  the  three  cults  continue  to  form  "  one  body," 
or  will  they  fall  apart?      If  they  fall  apart,  will 
each  maintain  a  separate  existence  of  its  own,  or 
are  they  one  and  all  destined  to  suffer  eclipse  and 
death  ?     Who  will  be  the  Fu  Hsi  of  the  centuries 
to  come  ?     What  are  the  symbols  that  will  replace 
.  the  cap  and  the  shoes  and  the  scarf  that  Fu  Hsi 


4        THE   "THREE  RELIGIONS"  OF  CHINA      [CH. 

was  proud  to  wear  ?  And  who — let  us  ask  with 
bated  breath — is  to  take  the  place  of  Fu  Hsi's 
imperial  master  ? 

These  are  gravely  important  questions  for 
China,  and  their  interest  for  Western  nations  is 
far  from  being  merely  academic.  The  forces  that 
mould  the  character  and  shape  the  aspirations  ot 
one  of  the  greatest  sections  of  mankind  cannot 
be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  rest  of  the 
human  race,  whose  future  history  will  be  pro 
foundly  affected,  for  better  or  for  worse,  by  the 
nature  of  the  ideals  and  ambitions  that  inspire 
the  constructive  energies  of  the  makers  of 
the  new  China. 

If  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  "three  religions" 
were  dependent  on  the  degree  of  respect  now 
^>ai/3  to  them  by  some  of  the  more  zealous  spirits 
among  China's  foreign  -  educated  reformers,  we 
should  be  obliged  to  prophesy  a  gloomy  ending 
for  all  three.  Taoism  is  treated  as  a  medley  of 
contemptible  superstitions,  and  multitudes  of  its 
temples,  with  their  unquestionably  ugly  clay 
images  and  tinsel  ornaments,  are  falling  into 
unlamented  decay.  Buddhism  meets  with  scant 
courtesy,  and  is  threatened  with  the  confiscation 
of  its  endowments  and  the  closing  of  some,  at 
least,  of  those  beautiful  monasteries  which  during 
the  happiest  centuries  of  China's  history  were 
the  peaceful  refuge  of  countless  poets  and  artists 
and  contemplative  philosophers.  The  moral 
sovereignty  of  the  "  uncrowned  king  " — Confucius 


L]  THE    ALTAR   OF   HEAVEN  5 

— totters  on  the  edge  of  an  abyss  which  has 
already  engulfed  a  throne  more  ancient,  if  not 
more  illustrious,  than  even  his — the  imperial  throne 
of  China.  There  are  rumours  that  the  state 
subsidies  hitherto  granted  at  regular  intervals  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  great  sage's  temple  and  tomb 
at  Ch'ii-fou  will  perhaps  be  withdrawn,  and  that 
in  the  state  schools  and  colleges  reverence  is  no 
longer  to  be  paid  to  the  canonised  representative 
of  Chinese  civilization  and  moral  culture.  There 
are  signs  that  not  even  the  holiest  sanctuary  in 
China  is  to  remain  inviolate :  for  the  whisper 
has  gone  forth  that  the  silent  and  spacious  grove 
that  surrounds  the  Altar  of  Heaven — that  marble 
index  of  a  religious  system  which  even  in  the 
days  of  Confucius  was  hallowed  by  the  traditions 
of  an  immemorial  antiquity — is  to  be  adapted  to 
commercial  uses  and  turned  into  an  experimental 
farm. 

Among  the  guiding  spirits  in  the  destructive 
and  constructive  work  undertaken  since  the 
overthrow  of  the  Manchu  dynasty  are  men  of 
fine  ability,  unquestioned  patriotism,  and  earnest 
zeal  for  their  country's  welfare ;  but  many  of 
them  have  been  so  bewitched  by  the  glamour 
of  Western  methods,  and  so  impressed  by  the 
material  successes  of  Western  civilization,  that 
they  have  lost  all  touch  with  the  spirit  of  the 
traditional  culture  of  their  own  race.  The  icono 
clastic  tendencies  of  to-day  have  not  been  guided 
by  the  will  of  the  people — for  the  will  of  the 


6       THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF   CHINA      [CH. 

people  has  not  yet  found  a  means  of  making 
itself  known  and  felt.  They  have  not  sprung 
into  activity  in  obedience  to  the  voice  of  China — 
for  the  voice  of  China  has  not  yet  been  heard.1 

Yet  perhaps,  after  all,  the  prospects  of  the 
"  three  religions "  are  not  quite  so  dismal  as  a 
glance  at  the  present  state  of  affairs  might  lead 
us  to  suppose.  That  the  iconoclastic  activity  of 
to-day  will  be  succeeded  sooner  or  later  by  a 
reaction  in  wrhich  all  the  traditional  conservatism 
of  the  Chinese  race  will  take  a  strenuous  part, 
is  one  of  the  few  prophecies  with  regard  to 
China's  future  which  may  be  uttered  with  reason 
able  confidence.  The  reaction  will  itself  be 
succeeded,  no  doubt,  by  further  oscillations,  more 
or  less  violent,  before  China  can  hope  to  attain 
that  condition  of  stability  and  peace  without 
which  there  can  be  no  permanent  reconstruction 
of  her  shattered  polity;  but  we  need  not  be 
surprised  if  the  China  that  emerges  victorious 
from  the  political  chaos  of  to-day  is  found  to 
have  quietly  gathered  up  and  loyally  preserved 
many  of  the  traditions  of  imperial  China  which 
the  triumphant  Revolution  was  supposed  to  have 
torn  in  fragments  and  trampled  under  foot. 

It  is  improbable,  on  the  whole,  that  the 
reorganised  Chinese  State  will  show  hostility  to 
the  religious  idea  as  such;  it  will  not,  we  may 
assume,  waste  its  strength  in  a  foolish  and 
necessarily  futile  attempt  to  suppress  the  religious 

1  Written  in  January  1913, 


I.]  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  7 

side  of  man's  nature.  The  religious  problem  that 
will  face  the  country's  rulers  will  probably  narrow 
itself  down  to  this  :  Is  the  Government  to  encourage 
the  people  to  make  their  religious  emotions  and 
interests  flow  irf  certain 7 specified  directions,  either 
by~"the "provision  of  religious'  education  _m_Jthe 
State  schools  or  by  the  official  support  of  a  State 
cult ;  or  is  religion  to  be  regarded  as  n  private 
concern  of  the  individual,  with  which  the  State 
has  nothing  whatever  to  do  so  long  as  the  religious 
beliefs  or  practices  of  any  given  individual  do 
not  lead  him  into  conflict  with  the  ordinary 
law  of  the  land  ?  It  seems  probable,  judging 
from  present  indications,  that  it  is  the  second 
alternative  which  will  be  accepted  by  the  rulers 
of  the  new  China.  Already  we  find  that  the 
declared  policy  of  the  republican  pioneers  is  to 
grant  toleration  to  all  religions,  native  and  foreign, 
but  to  show  special  favour  to  none:  and  this 
policy  is  not  unlikely  to  become  a  permanent 
feature  of  the  Chinese  constitution. 

But  though  China  will  probably  accept  the 
principle  of  complete  separation  between  the 
State  and  all  organised  or  institutional  religion, 
and  will  (it  may  be  suggested)  be  perfectly  right 
in  so  doing,  it  is  not  therefore  to  be  assumed 
that  the  Chinese  Government  (or  Governments) 
will  cease  to  exercise  a  paternal  supervision  over 
the  people's  morals.  If  that  were  so,  the  chasm 
between  the  old  China  and  the  new  would  indeed 
be  a  bridgeless  one.  There  has  always  been  an 


8       THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF  CHINA      [CH. 

intimate  connection  between  ethics  and  states 
manship  in  this  chosen  land  of  moral  philosophers, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  —  inevitable  in  China  as 
elsewhere  —  that  practice  has  not  always  con 
formed  to  precept.  A  Chinese  Government 
which  disclaimed  full  responsibility  for  the 
moral  welfare  and  guidance  of  the  people,  or 
which  confined  its  activities  in  this  direction  to 
the  occasional  amendment  of  its  penal  code, 
would  be  regarded  as  having  definitely  cut  itself 
adrift  from  the  most  sacred  traditions  of  past 
ages,  and  would  have  to  face  the  hostility  of 
all  the  conservative  sections  of  Chinese  society. 

The  separation  between  religion  and  politics 
will  not  necessarily,  in  China,  affect  the  traditional 
intimacy  between  politics  and  morals.  In  spite 
of  the  references  to  supernatural  powers  and 
agencies,  and  to  religious  ceremonies,  in  the 
old-fashioned  Chinese  proclamations  and  rescripts, 
it  is  undoubtedly  the  fact  that  in  China  the 
distinction  between  creed  and  morals — or  perhaps 
we  should  say  their  separability  —  has  for  ages 
been  tacitly  recognized.  The  view  that  sound 
morality  is  impossible  except  in  alliance  with  a 
definite  religious  creed,  belief  in  which  is  therefore 
an  essential  condition  of  good  citizenship,  is  a 
view  which  has  never  been  accepted  by  Chinese 
thinkers  or  rulers.  It  is  a  curious  and  instructive 
fact  that  while  in  the  West — under  the  influence 
of  a  privileged  and  intolerant  Church — ethics  and 
institutional  religion  are  regarded,  or  were  till 


I.]  RELIGION   AND   MORALS  9 

recently  regarded,  as  inseparably  linked  together, 
in  China  the  association  has  been  rather  between 
ethics  and  politics.  This  is  part  of  the  practical 
outcome  of  the  national  recognition  of  Confucius 
as  the  supreme  Teacher.  It  is  in  Confucianism 
that  we  find  the  closest  approach  to  a  fusion 
between  ethical  and  political  ideals,  and  it  was 
Confucius  who,  while  showing  a  genial  tolerance 
towards  the  tenets  of  popular  religion,  recom 
mended  his  disciples  to  consider  and  minister 
to  the  ascertainable  needs  of  men  before  perplex 
ing  themselves  over  the  problematical  demands 
and  requirements  of  the  gods. 

According  to  the  educational  theory  which  in 
parts  of  Europe  has  for  some  time  dominated  the 
relations  between  religion  and  the  State,  definite 
religious  instruction  forms  no  necessary  part  of 
the  content  of  ethical  education  and  has  no  vital 
relation  to  moral  conduct ;  but  it  is  usually  agreed, 
nevertheless,  that  respect  should  be  paid  to  the 
religious  idea,  and  to  spiritual  interpretations  of 
life,  and  that  tolerance  should  be  shown  to  all 
forms  of  religious  expression.1 

1  Cf.  the  speech  by  the  French  deputy  at  the  Moral  Education 
Congress  held  in  London  in  September  1908.  Canon  Lilley  has  more 
recently  (August  1912)  told  us  that  in  France  ee  a  new  sense  of 
religous  need  is  everywhere  making  itself  felt  throughout  the  national 
life."  This  is  very  probably  true :  man's  religious  instincts  will 
not  suffer  themselves  to  be  extinguished  at  the  bidding  of  a  political 
party.  But  a  revival  of  religion  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  revival  of 
belief  in  a  theological  system  or  a  readiness  to  subscribe  to  definite 
credal  formulas.  The  French  intellect  once  emancipated  from 
ecclesiastical  domination  in  spiritual  matters  is  not  likely  to  return 
of  its  own  accord  to  a  condition  of  spiritual  servitude.  France  is 


10      THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF   CHINA     [CH. 

This  is  no  place  for  an  enquiry  into  the  justice 
or  adequacy  of  such  views,  but  that  they  are 
in  entire  harmony  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of 
Confucian  teachings  is  a  fact  which,  if  it  were 
fully  realized,  might  go  far  towards  bringing 
about  a  permanent  reconciliation  between  the 
moral  and  educational  and  to  a  great  extent 
even  the  political  aims  of  the  "  progressive "  and 
the  conservative  parties  in  China.  It  has  long 
been  recognized  that  Confucianism  is  an  ethico- 
political  rather  than  a  religious  cult.1  Such 
definitely  religious  elements  as  the  system  con 
tains,  including  those  resulting  from  the  elevation 
of  Confucius  to  quasi-divine  rank,  might  be  got 
rid  of,  or  might  be  ignored  by  the  State,  without 
gross  violence  being  done  to  any  deep  -  rooted 
popular  prejudices ;  for  the  ritual  solemnities 
that  took  place  at  regular  intervals  in  the 
Confucian  temples  were  always  the  affair  of  the 
emperor  and  his  officials,  and  their  suppression 

growing  restless  because  she  is  realizing  the  insufficiency  of  a 
civilization  which  concentrates  its  whole  attention  on  material  interests 
and  is  contemptuous  of  the  needs  of  the  spirit.  As  for  China, 
she,  too,  will  discover,  sooner  or  later,  that  Western  civilization, 
in  spite  of  its  outward  splendour  and  its  alluring  promises,  is  but 
too  prone  to  pamper  the  body  and  starve  the  soul ;  though  whether 
China  will  find  it  impossible  to  satisfy  her  spiritual  needs  except 
by  throwing  away  her  own  spiritual  heritage  and  adopting  that  of 
another  race,  is  a  different  question. 

1  It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  Confucian  statesmen  have  been  guilty 
from  time  to  time  of  persecuting  Buddhism  and  other  cults  which 
were,  or  were  believed  to  be,  irreconcilable  with  Confucian  teachings  ; 
but  such  persecutions  have  been  undertaken  on  political  and  social 
grounds,  not  with  the  aim  of  crushing  or  penalizing  religious  opinions 
as  such. 


ARCHWAY   AT   THE   PI-YUN   TEMPLE,   WESTERN    HILLS. 


ARCHWAY  AT  THE   WO-FO  TEMPLE,    WESTERN    HILLS, 


{Facing  p.  id. 


I.]  ANCESTOR  -  WORSHIP  1 1 

would  not  interfere  with  any  cherished  religious 
customs  or  practices  of  the  people.  Thus-^fche 
Chinese  jGayerument  which  retains  Confucianism 
as  a  basis  for  moral  training  need  have  no  fear 
that  it  will  be  convicted  of  having  betrayed  the 
cause  of  political  progress  or  of  giving  State 
support  to  any  organized  system  of  religious 
worship  or  belief;  and  such  a  Government  will 
assuredly  gain  the  glad  support  of  all  who  wish 
to  see  the  evolution  of  China  proceeding,  so  far 
as  is  reasonable  and  practicable,  along  the  lines 
of  its  own  immemorial  past. 

If  it  were  our  task  to  undertake  a  full  treat 
ment  of  religious  conditions  and  prospects  in 
China,  a  special  chapter  would  have  to  be  devoted 
to  the  consideration  of  the  weighty  problems 
arising  out  of  the  so-called  worship  of  ancestors, 
which  is  in  many  respects  the  most  deeply-rooted 
religious  cult  in  China.  This  cult  is  independent 
of  Confucianism,  though  it  may  be  said  to  have 
grown  and  prospered  under  the  protection  of 
the  Confucian  system,  and  to  have  received  a 
certain  amount  of  qualified  approval  from  the 
great  sage  himself.  Ancestor  -  worship  would 
not  necessarily  lose  its  HoTd~~dn  tile  people  if 
Confucius  were  dethroned ;  and  though  It  will 
doubtless  undergo  various  modifications  and 
adaptations,  and  will  be  seriously  menaced  by 
the  gradual  disintegration  of  the  present  organiza 
tion  of  society,  in  which  the  family  rather  than 
the  individual  is  regarded  as  the  social  unit,  it 


12      THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF   CHINA     [CH. 

nevertheless  seems  likely  to  last,  in  one  form  or 
another,  quite  as  long  as  any  other  religious  cult  at 
present  competing  for  the  popular  favour.  There 
are  superstitions  connected  with  ancestor-worship 
which  the  spread  of  education  and  of  scientific 
knowledge  will  infallihly  sweep  away,  but  the 
essential  ideas  at  the  root  of  the  cult  are  sound 
and  healthy,  and  their  forcible  removal  would 
constitute  the  severest  moral  catastrophe  which 
could  befall  the  Chinese  people.  \ 

But  if  Confucianism  and  the  cult  of  ancestors 
—shorn  of  their  superstitious  accretions  -  -  may 
still  be  destined  to  play  an  active  and  beneficent 
part  in  the  moral  guidance  of  China,  what 
expectation  is  there  that  anything  but  ignoble 
decay  awaits  their  rivals  ?  With  regard  to 
Taoism,  let  us  admit  at  once  that  as  an  organized 
religion  with  temples  and  a  priesthood  it  is 
already  moribund.  Taoist  wizardries  shrink  from 
contact  with  the  gleaming  lances  of  the  knights 
of  modern  science,  and  already  excite  the  ridicule 
of  those  who  once  came  to  marvel  and  to  revere. 
The  opening  of  every  new  school  nowadays  may 
be  said  to  synchronize  with,  if  not  to  be  the 
direct  cause  of,  the  closing  of  a  Taoist  temple. 
The  priests  of  the  cult  are  not  only  ceasing  to 
enjoy  the  respect  of  others,  they  are  losing 
confidence  in  themselves  and  in  the  potencies  of 
their  gods  and  demons.  An  enlightened  China 
may  be  Confucian,  it  may  possibly  be  Buddhist, 
it  may  "  worship  "  its  ancestors,  it  may  be  agnostic 


L]  TAOISM  13 

or  rationalistic,  but  it  will  certainly  not  be  Taoist. 
The  venerable  system  of  philosophic  mysticism 
from  which  modern  Taoism  claims  descent  is 
still,  indeed,  of  interest  and  value  to  thinkers 
of  the  present  day,  and  it  may  be  admitted  that 
the  fantastic  musings  of  Taoist  sages  and  mountain- 
roaming  hermits  were  not  wholly  unproductive  of 
strange  discoveries  in  certain  unfrequented  by 
paths  of  psychology  and  natural  science.  Yet 
the  disappearance  of  Taoism  as  a  distinct  cult 
will  not  be  a  thing  to  be  regretted  by  the  friends  of 
China.  If  its  teachings  contain  a  good  deal  that 
is  true,  they  also  contain  much  that  is  crude 
and  false.  The  false  may  well  be  cast  aside  and 
forgotten,  the  true  will  in  due  time  be  claimed 
and  classified  by  science  and  philosophy.  As 
for  the  ethics  of  popular  Taoism,  as  distinct  from 
the  lofty  teachings  ascribed  to  Lao-tzu,  they 
contain  very  little  that  is  original,  very  little  of 
value  that  may  not  be  found  in  Confucianism 
or  in  Buddhism. 

There  is  only  one  way  in  which  Taoism  can 
hope  to  survive  the  shocks  and  changes  of  the 
coming  years,  and  it  will  be  by  treading  the  narrow 
path  of  humility  and  self-sacrifice.  Taoism  must 
throw  away  its  gaudy  trappings  and  relinquish  its 
claim  to  be  "  a  way  of  salvation."  It  must  be 
content  to  play  the  humbler  parts  of  a  handmaid 
to  art  and  poetry  and  a  guardian  of  folklore  and 
romantic  legend.  The  fear  has  been  expressed  of 
late  that  the  triumph  of  Western  civilization  in 


14      THE   "THREE  RELIGIONS"   OF   CHINA      [OH. 

China  will  involve  the  irremediable  decay  of  the 
country's  literature  and  art :  indeed  many  have 
found  reason  to  doubt  whether  China  has  not 
already  ceased  to  be  a  producer  of  beautiful  things 
and  a  foster  -  mother  of  artists  and  poets.  So 
pessimistic  a  view  as  this  is  hardly  justifiable ; 
but  the  future  leaders  of  China's  artistic  develop 
ment  will  be  doing  an  injustice  to  themselves  and 
an  injury  to  the  aesthetic  and  spiritual  instincts 
of  their  race  if  they  turn  contemptuously  away 
from  a  wonder-working  fountain  whence  the  poets 
and  artists  of  their  country  have  drawn  copious 
draughts  of  inspiration  for  a  period  of  nearly  two 
thousand  years.  In  the  imaginative  literature  and 
art  of  China  Taoism  has  had  an  influence  which 
is  not  unworthy  of  comparison  with  the  influence 
wielded  in  Western  art  by  the  Greek  mythology, 
or  by  the  ideals  of  medieval  chivalry,  or  by  the 
legends  associated  with  the  beginnings  of  Chris 
tianity.  The  Greek  gods  stepped  down  from  their 
thrones  on  Olympus  long  ago,  but  in  performing 
this  act  of  humiliation  they  were  fitting  them 
selves  to  become  the  occupants  of  new  thrones  in 
an  ideal  world  of  poetry  and  romance.  In  a  similar 
ideal  world  the  divinities  and  wild-eyed  mountain- 
wizards  of  Taoism  may  find  themselves  not  quite 
forlorn,  and  though  their  clay  images  may  be 
trampled  into  mud  and  their  temples  levelled 
with  the  ground,  they  may  still  find  themselves 
in  a  position  to  take  an  honourable  share  in  the 
creation  or  evocation  of  the  dreams  and  visions  of 


L]  BUDDHISM  15 

the  painters  and  poets  who  will  guide  the  fortunes 
of  a  Chinese  literary  and  artistic  renascence. 

If  Confucianism  and  Taoism  are  only  to  survive 
on  condition  that  they  cease  to  claim  the  honours 
and  privileges  usually  accorded  to  religion,  what 
is  to  be  said  of  the  prospects  of  Buddhism  ?  It  is 
true  that  Buddhism  itself  has  often  been  denied 
the  name  of  a  religion,  and  that  many  people  prefer 
to  regard  it  as  a  system  of  philosophy.  With 
regard  to  this  point,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the 
Indian  sages  of  the  time  of  the  Buddha  would 
have  been  puzzled  if  they  had  been  asked  to  draw 
clear  lines  of  distinction  between  philosophy  and 
religion.  We  may  well  hesitate  to  give  Sakyamuni 
the  name  of  philosopher  and  deny  him  that  of 
religious  teacher ;  while  if  we  concede  the  latter 
title  as  the  more  appropriate,  we  must  also  admit 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  exclude  the  name  of 
the  founder  of  Buddhism  from  any  comprehensive 
history  of  Indian  philosophy. 

As  to  the  form  of  Buddhism  which  prevails  in 
China,  perhaps  we  may  fairly  say  that  it  is  not 
only  both  a  religion  and  a  philosophy,  hut  that  it 
embraces  many  religions  and  many  philosophies, 
and  that  these  are  not  always  consistent  with  them 
selves  or  with  one  another.  Chinese  Buddhism 
has  drawn  its  doctrines  from  many  sources  and 
from  many  schools  of  religious  and  philosophic 
thought.  India,  Central  Asia,  Persia,  China  itself, 
have  all  contributed  to  the  final  result,  but  no 
religious  genius  has  yet  undertaken  the  colossal 


16      THE   "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF  CHINA     [CH. 

task  of  fusing  the  various  elements  into  one 
homogeneous  system.  The  Chinese  Tripitaka  has 
sometimes  been  called  the  Bible  of  the  Buddhists  ; 
but  it  should  rather  be  described  as  a  miscellaneous 
library,  in  which  the  Buddhist,  the  moral 
philosopher,  the  psychologist,  the  metaphysician, 
the  student  of  comparative  hierology,  the  historian, 
the  collector  of  folklore,  and  the  lover  of  poetry 
and  romance,  may  all  find  ample  stores  of  the  kind 
of  literature  in  which  they  take  delight.  There 
are  many  highly  -  cultivated  members  of  polite 
society  in  China  who  would  deny  with  some 
vehemence  that  they  were  Buddhists,  and  who  yet 
take  a  deep  and  intelligent  interest  in  various 
aspects  of  Buddhistic  philosophy ;  and  there  are 
many  people  of  fine  literary  discernment  who  never 
enter  a  Buddhist  temple  except  from  curiosity  or 
to  inspect  its  artistic  treasures,  and  who  will  never 
theless  admit  that  they  take  a  keen  intellectual 
pleasure  in  much  of  the  fine  work  bequeathed  to 
Chinese  literature  by  some  of  the  saints  of  the 
Buddhist  Church. 

These  considerations  are  enough  to  convince 
us  that  even  if  Buddhism  collapses  as  a  religious 
system  ("system  of  religions"  would  describe  it 
better),  it  may  still  continue  to  wield  an.-immense 
though  perhaps  impalpable  influence  over  Chinese 
thought.  Indeed  it  may  actually  regain  some  of 
the  influence  which  it  has  been  gradually  losing 
over  cultivated  minds  when  it  shakes  itself  free 
from  the  worthless  superstitions  with  which  the 


L]  BUDDHISM   AS   A   RELIGION  17 

need  of  satisfying  the  crude  religious  instincts  of 
an  ignorant  populace  has  forced  it  into  more  or 
less  grudging  alliance.  Moreover,  the  fact  must  , 
not  be  overlooked  that  Buddhism  has  taken  a  part 
no  less  distinguished  than  that  of  Taoism  in  con 
structing  the  channels  through  which  have  flowed, 
for  many  past  centuries,  some  of  the  main  currents 
of  the  Chinese  artistic  and  poetic  imagination. 
Neither  the  pictorial  art  nor  the  poetry  of  the 
Chinese  can  be  properly  understood  or  adequately 
appreciated  without  a  sympathetic  knowledge  of 
Buddhism  and  Buddhistic  lore  ;  and  there  is  no 
proof  that  Buddhism  as  a  fountain  of  artistic  and 
poetic  inspiration  is  exhausted. 

But  it  would  be  rash  to  assume  that  even  as  a 
religion,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  Buddhism 
has  run  its  course.  Confucianism  and  Taoism,  as  we 
have  seen  reason  to  believe,  must  abate  something 
of  their  loftiest  claims  (or  the  claims  that  others 
have  made  on  their  behalf)  if  they  wish  to  maintain 
a  strong  hold  on  Chinese  hearts  and  minds  ;  but  it 
is  not  quite  certain  that  Buddhism  must  follow 
their  example.  Access  to  Western  fountains  of 
wisdom  has  not  resulted  in  the  disappearance  of 
the  Buddhist  faith  from  Ceylon  or  Siam  or  Burma, 
and  even  in  so  progressive  a  country  as  Japan  we 
find  that  several  schools  of  Buddhism  are  at  present 
showing  signs  of  renewed  vitality  and  vigour. 
It  would  be  rash  to  attempt  to  prophesy,  in  these 
days  of  convulsion  and  transition,  what  the  future 


18      THE  "THREE   RELIGIONS"   OF   CHINA     [CH. 

may  have  in  store  for  Buddhism  in  China ;  but 
that  the  subject  is  one  of  interest  and  importance 
few  students  of  religion  or  of  world-politics  will 
feel  disposed  to  deny.  A  Christian  theologian  of 
our  own  day  has  recently  observed  that  Buddhism 
is  the  only  religion  in  the  world  that  can  be 
regarded  as  "a  serious  rival  to  Christianity. ' 1  If 
this  be  so,  then  for  that  reason  if  for  no  other  it 
is  incumbent  upon  the  peoples  of  the  West  to  form 
some  correct  notions  about  the  history  and  present 
condition  of  Buddhism  in  that  country  which,jr£ 
spite  of  the  attractions  of  rival  faiths,  contains  a 
greater  number  of  Buddhists  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world. 

An  attempt  will  be  made  in  these  pages  to 
introduce  the  Western  reader  to  some  of  those 
aspects  of  Chinese  Buddhism  with  which  he  is 
least  likely  to  be  familiar,  and  to  conduct  him 
on  imaginary  pilgrimage  to  some  of  those  great 
monasteries  which  long  have  been,  and  still  are, 
the  strongholds  of  Buddhist  influence  among  the 
Chinese  people.  It  may  be  that  he  will  return 
without  having  formed  any  exalted  conception  of 
the  fitness  of  Buddhism  to  take  a  dignified  part  in 
the  future  development  of  Chinese  civilization. 
Yet  his  pilgrimage  will  not  have  been  wholly 
in  vain  if  it  enables  him  to  enter  into  partial 
communion  with  that  mysterious  entity  which 
has  baffled  and  bewildered  so  many  Western  minds 
and  has  so  often  been  declared  inscrutable — the 

1  Rev.  J.  A.  Selbie  in  the  Expository  Times,  April  1912. 


I.]  MONASTIC  BUDDHISM  19 

Soul  of  China.  For  it  is  a  fact  that  few  of  us  can 
hope  to  gain  true  insight  into  the  spiritual  core  of 
Chinese  culture  until  we  have  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  great  poets  and  painters  of  T'ang, 
Sung,  and  Ming,  and  have  wandered  as  they  did 
among  the  beautiful  mountain-homes  of  monastic 
Buddhism.  There  we  must  cast  aside — so  far  as 
it  is  humanly  possible  for  Western  men  and  women 
to  do  so — all  occidental  preconceptions  and  pre 
judices,  and  try  to  hear  with  Chinese  ears  and  to 
see  with  Chinese  eyes.  Only  then  will  stream 
and  wood,  crag  and  waterfall,  cast  over  us  the 
same  spells  that  they  cast  over  China's  hill-roaming 
painters  and  minstrel-pilgrims.  Perhaps  when  we 
are  watching  a  browsing  deer  that  refuses  to  take 
fright  at  our  approach,  perhaps  when,  on  some 
lonely  mountain  -  slope,  we  are  listening  to  the 
deep,  soft  note  of  a  monastery-bell,  we  may  see  a 
little  way  into  the  secret  of  the  intense  love  of  the 
poets  and  painters  of  China  for  rock  -  throned 
pagoda  and  forest-guarded  hermitage,  and  learn 
how  it  was  that  they  acquired  their  wonderful 
knowledge  of  the  ways  of  those  wild  animals  that 
flee  in  dread  from  the  dwellers  in  the  plains, 
but  come  without  fear  to  share  food  or  shelter 
with  the  Buddhist  monks  whose  homes  are  in 
the  quiet  hills. 


CHAPTER  II 
s^^ 

BUDDHISM    UNDER    A^OKA    AND    KANISHKA 

BUDDHISM  had  already  passed  through  its  main 
doctrinal  developments  before  it  succeeded  in 
establishing  itself  as  one  of  the  three  religions  of 
the  Chinese  people.  Before  we  can  hope,  therefore, 
to  understand  the  history  and  present  position  of 
the  Buddhist  religion  in  China  we  must  know 
something  of  its  varying  fortunes  in  the  land  which 
gave  it  birth.  Buddhist  China  is  unintelligible 
without  some  acquaintance  with  Buddhist  India. 
Sakyamuni  Buddha  is  now  believed  to  have 
died  in  or  about  the  year  483  B.C.  Under  the 
patronage  and  personal  support  of  the  emperor 
Asoka  (whose  reign  probably  extended  from  264 
to  231  B.C.)  the  religion  founded  by  Sakyamuni 
consolidated  its  position  in  the  Gangetic  valley, 
where  it  had  originated,  and  extended  its  influence 
to  other  countries  both  in  India  and  beyond  its 
borders.  Buddhism,  in  fact,  became  a  missionary 
religion,  and  its  missionaries  proved  themselves  as 
intrepid  as  they  were  zealous.  It  is  to  be  gathered 
from  one  of  the  Asokan  edicts  that  the  emperor 

formed  ambitious  plans  for  the  peaceable  conversion 

20 


CH.  ii.]  ASOKA  21 

not  only  of  various  Central  Asiatic  states,  but  also  of 
Syria,  Egypt,  Macedonia,  and  Epirus  ;  and  though 
the  teachings  of  the  Buddhist  preachers  seem  to 
have  made  but  little  outward  impression  on  the 
religious  thought  of  the  lands  which  lay  within 
the  Greek  sphere  of  influence,  there  is  ample 
evidence  that  Asoka's  missionary  zeal  was  largely 
responsible  for  the  victorious  march  of  the  Buddhist 
religion  through  the  Himalayan  states,  including 
Kashmir  and  Gandhara,  as  well  as  through  southern 
India  and  Ceylon. 

By  this  time  Buddhism  possessed  its  canon  and 
its  formulated  doctrines,  though  the  religion  to 
which  Asoka  gave  his  enthusiastic  support  was — 
if  we  may  judge  from  his  famous  rock  and  pillar 
edicts — little  more  than  a  refined  and  undogmatic 
system  of  practical  ethics.  Filial  piety  and  respect 
towards  teachers  and  those  in  authority  ;  kindness 
and  courtesy  to  dependents,  tenderness  and  pity  for 
the  weak,  hospitality  and  charity  towards  the 
stranger  and  the  traveller,  sympathy  and  con 
sideration  for  all  living  creatures  ;  truthfulness  and 
honesty  in  word  arid  deed  ;  self-control,  gratitude, 
fidelity,  liberality,  and  purity  of  heart ;  toleration 
for  the  beliefs  of  others,  and  avoidance  of  all 
hatred  and  uncharitableness  in  act,  thought,  and 
language  —  such  are  the  essential  doctrines  of 
Asokan  Buddhism,  and  as  far  as  they  go  they 
are  ^entirely  consistent  with  the  ethical  teachings 
of  Sakyamuni  himself. 

Whether  Asoka's  missionaries  reached  China  or 


22  UNDER   ASOKA    AND  KANISHKA  [CH. 

not  is  a  difficult  question  to  answer.  All  we  can 
say  is  that  they  may  possibly  have  done  so.  A 
Chinese  tradition  says  that  Buddhism  appeared 
in  China  about  the  year  217  B.C.  Moreover,  the 
Buddhistic  literature  and  monastic  chronicles  of 
China  contain  numerous  references  to  Asoka 
himself,  who  is  declared  to  have  been  the  founder 
of  a  vast  number  of  pagodas,  some  of  which  were 
erected  on  Chinese  soil.1  The  stories  of  Asoka 
and  his  Chinese  pagodas  are  no  doubt  fabulous, 
but  it  is  possible  that  the  legends  which  associate 
his  name  with  the  early  propagation  of  Buddhism 
in  China  may  contain  a  measure  of  truth.  Asoka 
died  about  the  year  231  B.C.  The  self-styled 
"  First  Emperor  "  of  China  (Ch'in  Shih-huang),  the 
builder  of  the  Great  Wall,  reigned  from  221  to 
210,  and  it  was  about  the  year  213  that  this 
monarch's  policy,  which  might  perhaps  be  described 
as  Political  Futurism,  culminated  in  the  "  burning 
of  the  books."  It  is  not  inconceivable  that  these 
books — which  are  believed  to  have  embraced  all 
existing  literature  except  works  relating  to 
medicine,  agriculture,  and  divination  --  included 
some  Buddhist  tracts.  For  though  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  canon  had  not  been  reduced  to 
writing  at  that  early  date,  it  is  by  no  means  certain 
that  portions  of  the  scriptures  did  not  already  exist 
in  literary  form  ;  indeed,  if  there  were  no  literature 

1  Even  the  Shan  States  are  supposed  to  have  had  a  share  of  the 
Asokan  pagodas.  See  Sir  George  Scott's  article  on  "  Buddhism  in  the 
Shan  States"  in  J.E.A.S.,  Oct.  1911,  p.  921. 


ii.]  BUDDHIST  MISSIONS  23 

of  any  kind,  it  is  difficult  to  explain  the  success  of 
the  missionary  propaganda  in  India  and  Ceylon. 
There  is  a  passage  in  a  Chinese  historical  work 
which  distinctly  states  that  Buddhist  books  had 
been  widely  circulated  for  a  long  time,  but  dis 
appeared  when  the  Ch'in  dynasty  established  itself 
on  the  throne.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the 
Asoka  legends  bear  a  suspicious  similarity  to  those 
relating  to  the  Indo- Scythian  king  Kanishka,  and 
it  is  possible  that  there  has  been  some  confusion  of 
names  and  events.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not, 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Kanishka  or  one 
of  the  other  monarchs  of  his  race  had  diplomatic 
and  other  relations  with  China  ;  and  if  (as  high 
authorities  maintain)  Kanishka  reigned  in  the  first 
century  B.C.,  it  is  possible  that  he  or  an  early 
successor  may  have  had  something  to  do  with 
the  facts  underlying  a  well  -  known  story  of  a 
Chinese  embassy  to  the  Yiieh  -  chih  in  the  year 
2  B.C. 

Very  soon  after  Asoka's  death  his  empire  began 
to  break  up.  Buddhism  continued  to  prosper,  but 
in  adapting  itself  to  the  needs  of  the  tribes  and 
nations  of  Central  Asia  it  was  obliged  to  submit  to 
various  far-reaching  compromises.  The  pressure 
which  it  had  to  encounter  was  not  from  external 
forces  only.  Some  of  the  old  schools  of  Buddhist 
thought  which  had  been  treated  as  heterodox  and 
kept  in  subordination  in  pre-Asokan  days  found 
fresh  sources  of  strength  and  support  among 
multitudes  of  the  new  converts.  Outside  India 


24  UNDER   AS'OKA   AND   KANISHKA  [CH. 

the  orthodoxy  of  the  Pali  canon  (fixed  in  the  third 
century  B.C.)  was  exposed  to  the  contempt  or 
neglect  of  heterodox  schools,  which  showed  a 
disposition  to  gather  materials  for  a  new  canon  of 
their  own ;  while  within  the  limits  of  India  itself 
there  was  a  gradual  obliteration  of  the  old  lines  of 
demarcation  between  Buddhism  and  the  other 
systems  of  Indian  religion.  In  Ceylon,  indeed, 
Buddhism  has  maintained  itself  as  the  religion  of 
the  country  ever  since  its  establishment  there  in 
the  Asokan  age,  and  Burma  (which  embraced 
Buddhism  in  comparatively  recent  times)  is  still 
devotedly  attached  to  the  religion  of  its  choice  ; 
but  in  India  Buddhism  allowed  itself  to  be  gradu 
ally  absorbed  by  more  strenuous  rivals,  and  it  is 
only  in  Brahmanical  Hinduism  that  a  few  traces 
of  its  influence  may  still  be  found.1  The  pro 
cess  of  absorption  may  be  said  to  have  lasted 
till  the  twelfth  century  of  our  era;  indeed,  if 
we  regard  Nepal  as  part  of  India,  we  may  say 
that  the  process  is  not  yet  quite  complete.2 

1  ' '  Buddhism  wasted  away  after  rival  sects  had  appropriated  every 
thing  from  it  that  they  could  make  any  use  of."     E.  Hardy,  quoted  by 
Mrs  Rhys  Davids,  Buddhism,  p.  28. 

2  Buddhism   in   India  did  not  owe  its  extinction  to  Brahmanical 
persecutions.     The  belief  that  such  was  the  case  has  been  given  up 
owing  to  lack  of  evidence.     It  undoubtedly  suffered  severely,  however, 
in  the   last  stages  of  its   career  from  the   iconoclastic  fury   of   the 
Mohammedans.     The  decay  of  Buddhism  was  also  largely  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  Yogacharya,  or  Tantric  Buddhists,  who  from  about  the 
sixth  century  of  our  era  began  to  admit  Saivite  deities  into  what  now 
may  be  called  the  Buddhist  pantheon.     This  helped  to  obliterate  the 
characteristic  features  of  Buddhism,  which  thus  gradually  ceased  to 
maintain  itself  as  a  separate  religion. 


II.]  THE   MAHAYANA  25 

But  it  is  not  the  obscure  history  of  the  decline 
of  Buddhism  in  India  that  claims  our  attention  here. 
Our  concern  is  rather  with  that  wonderful  system 
known  as  the  Mahayana — a  system  which  in  some 
respects  is  so  different  from  the  Buddhism  of  the 
Pali  canon  that  many  students  have  been  tempted 
to  question  its  right  to  claim  more  than  a  nominal 
association  with  the  teachings  of  Sakyamuni,  and 
have  tried  to  trace  its  characteristic  doctrines  to 
sources  that  were  neither  Buddhistic  nor  Indian. 

The  term  Mahayana  —  Great  Vehicle  —  was 
adopted  by  the  followers  of  the  new  doctrines 
to  distinguish  their  own  system  from  primitive 
Buddhism,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  the 
Hmayana,  or  Small  Vehicle.  The  Hinayana  was 
so  called  because,  according  to  its  opponents,  it 
was  capable  of  conveying  to  the  "  other  shore  "  of 
Nirvana  only  those  rare  individuals  who  by  their 
own  strenuous  exertions  had  earned  for  them 
selves  the  prize  of  salvation ;  whereas  the  Great 
Vehicle  offered  salvation  to  all  beings  in  all 
the  worlds.  The  two  names  are  convenient 
designations  of  the  rival  systems,  though  it  should 
be  noted  that  the  term  Hinayana  was  not  accepted 
by  the  canonical  Buddhists  as  a  correct  description 
of  their  own  school,  for  which  a  more  correct 
term  would  be  Theravada— the  School  of  the 
Elders  or  Presbyters. l 

1  The  Theravadins  were  also  known  as  the  Haimavantas,  or  (to 
use  the  Chinese  term)  Hmeh-shan-pu  —  the  School  of  the  Snowy 
Mountains. 


26  UNDER  ASOKA   AND  KANISHKA  [OH. 

A  great  impetus,  if  an  indirect  one,  is  believed 
to  have  been  given  to  the  spread  of  the  Mahay anist 
doctrines  by  the  conversion  to  Buddhism  of  the 
powerful   Indian   ruler    already   mentioned  —  the 
Kushan  king  Kanishka.     Very  little  is  known  at 
present   of   the   details   of  this   monarch's   reign : 
even    the   extent   of    his    dominion  is   uncertain. 
It    has    been     supposed    that    he    ruled    over    a 
loosely- confederated    empire   which   included    not 
only  North- Western   India,  but  also   portions   of 
Afghanistan,    Parthia,    Gandhara,    Kashmir,    and 
parts    of    what    is    known    to  -  day    as    Chinese 
Turkestan.     A  passage   in    Hsiian    Tsang's    book 
of    travels    implies    that    his   influence    extended 
even  to  the  western    confines  of   China.1      It  has 
recently     been     questioned,     however,      whether 
Kanishka's    direct    rule    extended    beyond    India, 
Gandhara,  and  Kashmir ;  reasons  have  been  given 
for  the  belief  that  it  was    not  Kanishka  himself, 
but  a  line  of  allied   kings    of   the    same    Kushan 
race,  who  reigned  in  the  northerly  regions.2 

In  any  case  the  name  of  Kanishka  is  a  great 
one  in  the  history  of  Buddhism,  for  it  was  he 
who  is  believed  to  have  summoned  the  great 
Buddhist  Council  of  Kashmir.  The  names  of 
various  patriarchs  and  doctors  have  been  handed 
down  in  connection  with  the  traditions  relating 
to  the  king's  religious  activities,  the  most  famous 
being  Parsva,  Vasumitra,  and  Asvaghosha. 
Unfortunately  for  the  cause  of  historical  accuracy, 

1  See  Waiters,  Yuan  Chwany,  i.  124. 

2  See  J.  Kennedy  in  J.R.A.S.,  July  1912,  pp.  665 /. 


ii.]  ASVAGHOSHA  27 

it  is  hardly  possible  to  make  any  very  positive 
statements  about  the  part  taken  by  these  venerable 
figures  in  Buddhist  developments,  for  there  were 
several  Vasumitras  and  several  Asvaghoshas.  All 
we  can  say  is  that,  according  to  one  Buddhist 
tradition,  a  monk  named  Vasumitra  became 
president  of  the  Council  of  Kashmir ; l  that, 
according  to  another  tradition,  a  monk  named 
Asvaghosha  was  sent  to  the  court  of  a  king, 
who  may  have  been  Kanishka,  in  accordance  with 
the  peace  conditions  imposed  by  that  monarch  after 
a  successful  war  with  a  neighbouring  Indian  ruler  ; 2 
that  an  Asvaghosha  probably  took  a  prominent  part 
(perhaps  as  vice-president)  in  Kanishka's  Council ; 
that  this  may  have  been  the  Asvaghosha  who 
figures  in  the  lists  of  Indian  patriarchs  which  have 
been  preserved  by  the  Buddhists  of  China ;  and 
that  a  writer  named  Asvaghosha  (of  uncertain 
date)  was  the  author  of  certain  religious  treatises 
in  which  some  of  the  Mahayanist  doctrines 
may  have  found  literary  expression  for  the  first 
time.3 

1  Paramartha's  Life  of  Vasubandhu  (Har.    xxiv.   vol.  ix.   pp.   115- 
118)  gives  Katyayani-putra  as  the  name  of  the  president. 

2  This  is  recorded  in  the  Life    of  Asvaghosha,  by  Kumarajiva,  Har. 
xxiv.  vol.  ix.  p.  112.     The  same  authority  gives  us  the  foolish  story 
about  the  six  starving  horses  which  (with  ample  supplies  of  food  in 
front  of  them)  refused  to  eat  in  order  that  they  might  give  their 
undivided    attention    to    Asvaghosha's   sermons.     (Hence  the   name 
Asvaghosha,  Chinese  Ma-miny,  which  means  Horses  neighing.) 

3  A  Japanese  scholar  (M.  Anesaki)  has  described  the  Mahayanist 
Asvaghosha  as  "  the  Buddhist  Origen,"  and  ascribes  to  him  the  first 
systematization  of  the   Buddhist  Trinitarian  (trikaya)  theory.      The 
reference  is  to  AsVaghosha's  Awakening  of  Faith,  which  English  readers 
should   consult    in    Suzuki's    translation.      This   is  the   Chci-hsin-lun 
referred  to  below. 


28  UNDER   ASOKA   AND   KANISHKA  [CH. 

All  this  is  very  vague,  and  the  vagueness  is 
increased  by  the  unfortunate  fact  that  the 
chronological  position  of  Kanishka  himself  is 
still  a  matter  of  controversy.  In  view  of  the 
importance  of  the  religious  movements  which 
took  place  in  his  time,  it  is  much  to  be  hoped 
that  the  fresh  literary  and  archaeological  material 
recently  discovered  in  Khotan  and  the  neighbour 
ing  regions  of  Turkestan  will  produce  evidence 
whereby  the  matter  will  be  put  beyond  the 
reach  of  further  dispute.  The  beginning  of 
Kanishka's  reign  has  been  assigned  by  some 
scholars  to  the  first  century  B.C.,  and  by  others 
to  the  first,  the  second,  and  even  the  third 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  Between  the 
earliest  and  the  latest  dates  which  have  been 
suggested  there  is  a  difference  of  no  less  than 
three  hundred  and  fifty- six  years — a  fact  which 
is  sufficient  to  indicate  the  chaotic  state  of 
Indian  chronology.  At  present  the  best  auth 
orities  hold  that  the  reign  began  either  in  78 
of  our  era  or  in  the  first  half  of  the  first 
century  B.C.  According  to  one  high  authority, 
the  so-called  Vikrama  era,  which  is  dated  from 
58  B.C.,  commenced  with  the  year  of  Kanishka's 
accession ;  according  to  another,  that  era  had 
a  religious  origin,  and  was  dated  from  the  con 
vocation  of  the  great  Buddhist  Council.1 

1  Mr  V.  A.  Smith  formerly  held  (see  his  Early  History  of  India, 
2nd  ed.,  1908,  pp.  239  /.)  that  Kanishka  began  to  reign  in  the  first 
half  of  the  second  century  of  our  era,  probably  in  the  year  120  or  125  ; 
but  more  recently,  in  his  History  of  Fine  Art  in  India  and  Ceylon 


ii.]  BUDDHIST   PATRIARCHS  29 

The  view  that  Kanishka  reigned  in  the  first 
century  B.C.  is  supported  by  the  tradition  pre 
served  by  Hsiian  Tsang  concerning  Buddha's 
alleged  prophecy  that  a  king  named  Kanishka 
would  reign  four  hundred  years  after  his  death.1 
The  "  prophecy "  was  no  doubt  manufactured 
after  the  event,  but  it  is  of  interest  as  giving 
the  belief,  at  the  time  it  was  recorded,  of  the 
number  of  years  that  had  elapsed  between  the 
death  of  Buddha  and  the  accession  of  Kanishka. 
If  Buddha  died  in  483  B.C.  and  Kanishka 
commenced  his  reign  in  58  B.C.  or  a  few  years 
earlier,  it  seems  that  the  "  prophecy "  was  correct 
within  twenty-five  years. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Chinese  Buddhistic 
writings  can  give  us  much  help  in  solving  the 
chronological  problem,  yet  an  examination  of  the 
list  of  the  patriarchs  through  whom  the  Ch'an 
(Dhyana)  Buddhists  of  China  trace  their  spiritual 
descent  from  Sakyamuni  may  perhaps  be  found 
suggestive. 

These  Chinese  Buddhists  say  that  Buddha 
died  in  a  year  which  corresponds  to  949  B.C.,  and 
that  the  first  and  second  "patriarchs"  were 

(1911),  he  pronounces  himself  in  favour  of  the  year  78  of  our  era. 
Dr  J.  F.  Fleet,  than  whom  there  is  no  higher  authority  on  Indian 
chronology,  maintains  that  Kanishka's  reign  began  with  the  so-called 
Vikrama  era  in  68  B.C.  The  view  quite  recently  put  forward  by  Mr 
J.  Kennedy  (J.R.A.S.,  July  and  October  1912)  is  to  the  effect  that 
Kanishka's  reign  began  a  few  years  earlier  than  this ;  that  the 
Buddhist  Council  was  held  in  his  reign,  in  the  year  58  B.C.  ;  and 
that  the  Vikrama  era  is  dated  from  that  event. 
1  Watters,  Yuan  Chwang,  i.  203. 


30  UNDER   ASOKA   AND   KANISHKA  [CH. 

Mahakasyapa  and  Ananda,  who  died  in  905  and 
867.  If  these  dates  were  correct,  we  should  have 
to  assume  that  Ananda,  though  he  was  Buddha's 
own  cousin  and  intimate  disciple,  survived  the 
Master  by  no  less  than  eighty-two  years  !  Coming 
lower  down  the  list  we  find  that  Asvaghosha 
(twelfth  patriarch)  died  about  the  year  330. 
Asvaghosha  in  his  turn  was  succeeded  by 
Kapimala,  and  Kapimala  by  the  celebrated 
Nagarjuna  (fourteenth  patriarch)  who  died  in  212 
B.C.  Obviously  all  these  dates  are  unreliable ; 
indeed  we  cannot  feel  sure  that  we  are  touching 
solid  ground  till  we  come  to  the  illustrious  name  of 
Bodhidharma,  with  whom  the  Indian  patriarchate 
came  to  an  end.  The  arrival  in  China  of  Bodhi 
dharma — or  "  Tamo,"  as  the  Chinese  call  him — 
about  the  year  520  of  our  era  is  a  well-attested 
fact ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
death  of  Tamo,  who  was  the  twenty-eighth  Indian 
and  first  Chinese  patriarch,  is  correctly  placed 
by  the  Chinese  monkish  chroniclers  about  the 
year  528. 

The  correction  of  all  the  dates  in  the  list  of 
patriarchs  would  be  a  hopeless  task.  The  initial 
error  in  the  date  assigned  to  Buddha's  death  is 
of  itself  sufficient  to  vitiate  all  the  subsequent 
chronology.  It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that 
though  tradition  has  gone  astray  in  the  matter 
of  dates,  it  has  correctly  preserved  the  names  of 
the  patriarchs  and  the  order  of  their  succession. 
According  to  the  Chinese  chronology  the  lives 


»A  AT   THE   PI-YUN   TEMPLJt-. 


.1, 


IL]  BUDDHIST  CHRONOLOGY  31 

of  the  twenty-eight  patriarchs  (949  B.C.  to  528 
of  our  era)  covered  a  period  of  1,477  years.  Each 
patriarch,  therefore,  must  have  survived  his  pre 
decessor  by  an  average  period  of  about  fifty-two 
years.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  how 
improbable  it  is  that  so  long  a  period  as  this  can 
have  elapsed  between  each  of  the  successive  deaths 
of  twenty-eight  patriarchs.  But  a  different  solution 
of  the  question  at  once  suggests  itself  when  we 
assume  that  Buddha's  death  took  place  not  in  949, 
as  the  Chinese  say,  but  in  483.  That  this  was  the 
true  date  of  the  death  of  Buddha  is  the  conclusion 
at  which  Western  scholars  have  recently  arrived, 
and  we  are  justified  in  assuming  it  to  be  approxi 
mately  correct.1  The  lives  of  the  twenty- eight 
patriarchs,  then,  extended  over  a  period  not 
of  1,477  but  only  of  1,011  years.  Now,  if  we 
calculate  the  average  length  of  each  patriarchate 
on  this  new  basis,  we  find  that  it  is  no  more  than 
thirty-six  years.  This  is  not  impossibly  long, 
especially  when  we  assume  (as  we  are  entitled  to 
do)  that  each  patriarch  made  a  point  of  selecting 
a  youthful  successor  in  order  to  preserve  an  analogy 
between  the  physical  succession  of  father  and  son 
and  the  spiritual  succession  of  teacher  and  disciple. 
If  we  now  test  our  new  scheme  of  dates  by  assign 
ing  to  A£vaghosha  the  chronogical  place  which 
he  ought  to  occupy  on  the  assumption  that  each 

1  See  Dr  J.  F.  Fleet's  article  in  J.R.A.S.,  1912,  p.  240.  Arguing 
in  favour  of  the  year  483,  he  says  :  ( '  There  is,  of  course,  no  means  of 
attaining  absolute  certainty.  But  I  think  that  this  result  cannot 
be  bettered," 


32  UNDER   ASOKA    AND   KANISHKA  [CH. 

patriarchate  lasted  thirty-six  years  on  an  average, 
we  arrive  at  once  at  the  interesting  discovery 
that  AsVaghosha's  death  may  be  placed  in  the 
year  51  B.C.  We  cannot,  of  course,  place  much 
reliance  on  the  accuracy  of  a  date  arrived  at  in 
this  arbitrary  manner ;  but  it  is  in  exact  conformity 
with  the  requirements  of  the  tradition  concerning 
Asvaghosha's  relations  with  Kanishka  and  the 
part  taken  by  him  in  the  work  of  the  Council  of 
Kashmir,  and  it  is  in  equally  precise  agreement 
with  the  new  theory  that  the  Council  was  held 
in  58  B.C. 

The  solution  of  the  chronological  problem  will 
no  doubt  enable  students  of  Buddhism  to  speak 
with  more  confidence  than  is  possible  at  present 
concerning  the  early  history  of  the  Great  Vehicle. 
But  the  once-prevalent  theory  that  the  rise  and 
expansion  of  the  Mahayana  school  was  directly  due 
to  the  personal  support  of  Kanishka,  and  to  the 
labours  of  the  Council  of  Kashmir  in  compiling  a 
new  Sanskrit  canon  which  was  to  supersede  the  Pali 
canon,  must  be  abandoned.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  Council  tampered  in  any  way  with  the 
existing  canon  or  even  that  it  was  Mahayanist 
in  sympathy.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  strong 
reasons  for  believing  that  it  was  a  Hmayanist 
council,  and  that  one  of  its  principal  objects  was 
riot  to  promote  but  to  check  the  expansion  of  the 
Mahayanist  heresies.  If  Hsiian  Tsang's  account  is 
to  be  trusted,  it  is  clear  that  earnest  Buddhists  of 
the  old  school  (or  rather  the  Sarvastivadin  branch  of 


IL]  COUNCIL   OF   KASHMIR  33 

the  old  school)  were  alarmed  by  the  doctrinal 
confusion  that  existed  throughout  the  Buddhist 
world,  and  that  they  therefore  induced  the  king — 
who  has  been  called  the  Clovis  of  Buddhism — to 
summon  a  Council  in  defence  of  the  interests  of 
their  own  type  of  orthodoxy.  Various  places  were 
suggested  for  the  meeting  of  the  Council,  and 
Kashmir  seems  to  have  been  selected  partly  for  the 
significant  reason  that  "  it  was  surrounded  with  hills 
as  a  city  is  surrounded  by  its  walls,"  and  could 
only  be  entered  by  a  single  pass ;  and  that  in  this 
secluded  region  the  Council  (or  rather  the  com 
mittee  of  monks  who  carried  out  the  literary  and 
editorial  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  the  Council) 
would  not  be  liable  to  be  disturbed  by  heretics  and 
schismatics.1  The  Council  seems  to  have  occupied 
itself  mainly  with  religious  discussions  and  debates 
which  were  subsequently  reduced  to  writing  in 
the  form  of  Sanskrit  commentaries.2  The  editorial 
work  is  said  to  have  been  entrusted  to  Asvaghosha, 
who  was  specially  invited  to  Kashmir  for  the  pur 
pose;  and  the  principal  result  after  twelve  years 
of  literary  labour  was  the  great  philosophical 
compilation  known  as  the  Mahavibhasha.3  Hsuan 

1  Paramartha,  Life  of  Vasubandhu,  Har.  xxiv.  vol.  ix.  p.  116.     The 
reference  is  to  the  king's  proclamation  issued  after  the  Council  had 
completed  its  labours.     See  also  Watters,  op.  cit.  i.  271. 

2  See  J.  Takakusu,  J.R.A.S.,  1905,  p.  415. 

s  See  Paramartha,  loc.  cit. ;  Watters,  op.  cit.,  i.  271,  ii.  104.  The 
commentaries  are  included  in  the  Chinese  Tripitaka  (so-called)  under 
the  section  of  Hsiao  Sheng  Lun — the  Abhidharma  of  the  Hinayana.  See 
J.  Takakusu  in  J.R.A.S.,  1905,  pp.  52,  160-162,  and  414-415  ;  also  his 

C 


34  UNDER   ASOKA   AND  KANISHKA  [CH. 

Tsang  tells  us  that  the  approved  treatises  were 
engraved  on  sheets  of  copper,  which  were  enclosed 
in  stone  caskets  and  buried  under  a  stupa  some 
where  near  the  modern  Srmagar.  When  this  was 
done  an  edict  was  carved  on  stone  whereby  it  was 
forbidden  to  remove  the  sacred  literature  from 
Kashmir.  One  of  our  authorities  makes  the  very 
significant  observation  that  these  measures  were 
taken  with  a  view  to  the  protection  of  orthodox 
religion  from  the  corrupting  and  destructive  in 
fluences  of  hostile  schools  and  the  Great  Vehicle.1 
It  is  clear,  then,  that  it  is  erroneous  to  speak 
of  the  Council  of  Kashmir  as  having  given  "  official 
authority  and  a  sacred  canon "  to  the  Mahayana 
form  of  Buddhism.2  Indeed  it  is  not  strictly 

article  in  the  Journal  of  the  Pali  Text  Society,  1904-5,  on  ' '  The  Abhi- 
dharma  Literature  of  the  Sarvastivadins."  He  observes  that  "all 
arguments  about  the  Council  and  its  works  will  be  valueless  until  the 
Mahavibhasha —  an  encyclopedia  of  Buddhist  philosophy — is  trans 
lated  into  one  of  the  European  languages."  For  the  Chinese  version, 
see  Har.  xxii.  vols.  i.-viii.  (B.N.  1263).  The  Chinese  attribute  the 
Mahavibhasha  to  the  I-ch'ieh-pu,  which  is  one  of  their  names  for  the 
Sarvastivadin  school  (also  known  as  Hetuvada)  of  the  Hinayana. 
Another  Chinese  name  for  the  school  was  Sa-p'o-to. 

*»  ffc  tf>  &  *  m  fP  »  ft  JE  ft-  Paramartha, 
Life  of  Vasubandhu,  Har.  xxiv.  vol.  ix.  p.  116  (6).  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  it  was  the  fame  of  the  Council  and  the  general  recognition 
of  the  value  of  its  literary  labours  that  impelled  some  Mahayanist 
writers  of  a  later  age  to  pretend  that  the  Council  had  been  attended  by 
Mahayanists  as  well  as  by  Hinayanists.  The  strange  story  of  Vasumitra, 
recorded  by  Hsuan  Tsang  (see  Watters,  Yuan  Ghwang,  i.  271),  reads  like 
a  Mahayanist  writer's  invention  ;  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  while, 
according  to  one  tradition  (probably  the  most  reliable)  the  Council  was 
attended  by  arahants  only  (that  is,  Hmayanist  ( '  saints "),  another 
tradition  asserts  that  it  was  also  attended  by  an  equal  number  of 
bodhisats  (that  is,  Mahayanist ff  saints  "). 

2  The  words  quoted  are  those  of  Mr  J.  Kennedy  in  J.R.A.S., 
1912,  p.  674. 


ii.]  THE   BUDDHIST  CANON  35 

accurate  to  apply  the  term  "  canon "  to  any 
collection  of  Buddhist  writings  except  that  which 
was  apparently  fixed  in  the  third  century  B.C.  or 
earlier,  and  was  reduced  to  writing  (in  Pali)  in  the 
first  century  B.C.1  All  we  can  say  with  regard  to 
the  so-called  Mahayana  canon  is  that  the  Mahayana 
schools  recognize  certain  works  as  more  sacred  or 
more  authoritative  than  others,  and  that  each  of 
the  sects  into  which  the  Mahayanists  divided 
themselves  in  China  and  Japan  based  its  teach 
ings  on  a  limited  number  of  sutras  carefully 
selected  from  the  available  accumulations  of  sacred 
literature.  Thus  each  school  or  sect  practically 
constructed  a  miniature  canon  for  itself,  and  the 
sanctity  or  canonicity  of  any  individual  work  in 
the  so-called  Chinese  Tripitaka  varies  with  the 
sectarian  standpoint  from  which  it  is  regarded.2 

1  See  Max  Muller,  S.B.E.,  vol.  x.  pp.  xx.-xxii.  xxxiv.-xliii.  ;  Rhys 
Davids,  S.B.E.,  vol.  xxxv.  pp.  xxxvii.-xl.,  vol.  xxxvi.  pp.  xv.-xvii.  ; 
and  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  pp.  ix.-xx.,  pt.  ii.  pp.  77-8. 

2  To  a  very  limited  extent  the  same  eclectic  tendency  was  shown 
by  some  of  the  Hmayana  schools  also.     Rhys  Davids  points  out  that 
several  of  these   schools  "had  their  different   arrangements  of  the 
canonical  books,  differing  also,  no  doubt,  in  minor  details  "  (Dialogues 
of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  p.  xix.). 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY   BUDDHISM   AND    ITS    PHILOSOPHY 

IT  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  some  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Mahayana  (not  to  mention 
its  ritual  practices)  bear  a  remarkable  resemblance 
to  some  of  the  teachings  of  Christianity.  This  is 
one  of  the  reasons  why  the  question  of  the  date 
of  Kanishka  is  of  considerable  interest  and  import 
ance  to  Western  enquirers.  It  seems  reasonable, 
at  first  sight,  to  suppose  that  if  certain  important 
features  of  Buddhism,  which  are  also  characteristic 
of  Christianity,  did  not  develop  until  the  time  of 
Kanishka  or  later,  and  if  the  reign  of  that  king 
belonged  to  as  late  a  period  as  the  first  or  second 
century  of  our  era,  then  the  Mahayana  must  have 
borrowed  from  Christianity.  One  critic  has  been 
venturesome  enough  to  assert  that  A£vaghosha 
and  the  apostle  St  Thomas  actually  became 
personally  acquainted  with  one  another  at  the 
court  of  St  Thomas's  supposed  Indian  patron, 
Gondophares,  or  Gondophernes,  and  that  such 
Christian  elements  as  are  to  be  found  in  the 

36 


CH.  in.]  THE   "NEW11   BUDDHISM  37 

Mahayana  were  therefore  the  result  of  the  inter 
course  between  the  Christian  apostle  and  the 
Buddhist  patriarch.1 

The  problem  of  the  nature  of  the  relationship 
between  Christianity  and  Buddhism  is  not  to  be 
explained  by  any  such  airy  suggestion  as  this  ; 
and,  indeed,  the  evidence  adduced  in  favour  of 
this  particular  theory  is  worthless.  On  the  whole 
there  is  something  to  be  said  for  the  view  that 
the  resemblances  between  Christianity  and  the 
"New"  Buddhism  (as  the  Mahayana  has  been 
called)  are  not  due  to  borrowing  either  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  but  to  the  fact  that  both  had 
access  to  the  same  sources  of  doctrinal  inspiration — 
sources  which  in  themselves  were  not  specifically 
either  Christian  or  Buddhist.  It  is  now  a  matter 
of  common  knowledge  that  Christianity  and 
Mithraism  were  in  many  respects  amazingly  alike  ; 
yet  the  best  authorities  assure  us  that  at  the  root 
of  those  two  religions  "lay  a  common  Eastern 
origin  [Persian  and  Babylonian]  rather  than  any 


1  See  the  late  T.  W.  Kingsmill's  article,  which  contains  several  rash 
and  questionable  statements,  in  The  Anglican  (a  missionary  periodical 
published  in  the  Far  East),  June  1909,  pp.  22  ff.  Mr  Kingsmill, 
Dr  Richard,  and  Professor  Arthur  Lloyd  all  seem  to  assume  that 
the  AsVaghosha  who  wrote  certain  Mahayanist  works  such  as  the 
Sraddhotpada-sastra  (the  Chinese  Ch'i-hsin-lun,  B.N.  1250)  must  have 
been  no  other  than  the  Asvaghosha  who  attended  Kanishka's  Council 
and  helped  to  edit  the  commentaries.  As  we  have  already  seen  (p.  27), 
there  were  several  Asvaghoshas  (or  several  persons  who  wrote  under 
that  name),  and  it  is  at  present  impossible  to  distinguish  between  them 
all  or  to  assign  them  to  their  proper  dates.  See  Mr  Anesaki's  article 
in  E.R.E.,  ii.  159,  and  T.  Suzuki's  Awakening  of  Faith  (Chicago  : 
1900),  pp.  6-17. 


38       EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS   PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

borrowing." l  If  this  be  so,  we  need  not  con 
sider  ourselves  under  any  obligation  to  look  for 
evidence  of  borrowing  when  we  come  across 
strange  similarities  between  Christianity  and  the 
Mahayana,  whose  common  features  are  probably 
less  striking  than  those  which  were  shared  by 
the  religions  of  Christ  and  Mithras. 

That  the  Mahayana  doctrines  were  not  of 
Christian  origin  is  frankly  admitted  to-day  even 
by  some  who  might  have  felt  tempted  to  give 
Christianity  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  A  well- 
known  Anglican  missionary  in  Japan,  writing  on 
Buddhist  and  Christian  origins,  remarks  that  "we 
cannot  always  trace  an  actual  contact ;  it  is 
perhaps  enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  these 
thoughts  were  in  the  air."2  According  to  another 
writer,  a  missionary  in  China,  "it  is  getting  clearer 
every  day  that  these  common  doctrines  of  new 
Buddhism  and  Christianity  were  not  borrowed 
from  one  another,  but  that  both  came  from  a 
common  source."3  This  writer  believes  that  the 

1  Dr  Grant  Showerman,  "Mithraism"   (Encycl.    Brit.,  llth  ed.). 
Mgr.   Louis  Duchesne,    in  his  Early  History  of  the  Christian  Church 
(Eng.  trans.,  1910,  i.  396),   admits  that   "the   religion   of  Mithras 
contained    elements  —  in    theology,    morality,    ritual,    and    in    its 
doctrine  of  the  end  of  all  things — bearing  a  strange  resemblance  to 
Christianity." 

2  Lloyd's  Creed  of  Half  Japan,  p.  340.     Prof.  Percy  Gardner  holds 
similar  views  of  the  alleged  borrowing  by  Christianity  from  the  pagan 
mysteries.     "  Ideas  are  propagated  from  school  to  school  and  teacher 
to  teacher  less  often  by  the  direct  borrowing  which  comes  of  admiration 
than  by  the  parallel  working  of  similar  forces  in  various  minds.     When 
ideas  are  in  the  air,  as  the  saying  is,  men  catch  them  by  a  sort  of 
infection,  and  often  without  any  notion  whence  they  come." 

3  Dr  Timothy  Richard,  The  Awakening  of  Faith,  p.  xiii. 


in.]  SOURCES   OF  DOGMA  39 

common  source  was  Babylonian,  and  that  "from 
this  centre  those  great  life-giving  inspiring  truths 
were  carried  like  seeds  into  both  the  East  and 
West,  where  they  were  somewhat  modified  under 
different  conditions."  l 

We  may,  then,  admit  the  possibility  that  some 
of  the  characteristic  doctrines  shared  by  Christianity 
and  the  Mahayana — such  as  the  efficacy  of  belief 
in  divine  or  superhuman  saviours  incarnating  them 
selves  in  man's  form  for  the  world's  salvation — 
were  partly  drawn  from  sources  to  which  the 
builders  of  both  religions  had  equally  ready  access. 
We  may  accept  the  view  that  each  of  these  creeds 
incorporated  certain  ideas  which  had  long  fascinated 
the  religious  imagination  of  a  considerable  portion 
of  south-western  Asia.  Yet  while  we  recognize 
the  palpable  truth  that  Buddhism  in  the  course  of 
its  expansion  in  foreign  lands  absorbed  some  alien 
beliefs  which  were  important  factors  in  determining 
the  course  of  its  subsequent  development,  we  are 
by  no  means  obliged  to  assume  that  there  was  a 
dissolution  of  continuity  between  the  old  Buddhism 
and  the  new.  In  spite  of  the  differences  and  con 
trasts  that  undoubtedly  exist  between  the  primi 
tive  Buddhism  of  the  Pali  canon  and  the  mature 

1  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  give  undue  emphasis  to  the  Babylonian 
theory,  yet  the  history  of  Mithraism,  Mariichaeism,  Mandaeism,  and 
certain  early  Gnostic  cults  such  as  that  of  the  Ophites,  shows  us  how 
far-reaching  the  Babylonian  -  Assyrian  influence  undoubtedly  was. 
"  Babylonia/'  says  Mr  J.  Kennedy  (J.R.A.S.,  1912,  p.  1005),  "with 
its  mixed  populations,  had  been  for  centuries  the  exchange-mart  of  the 
popular  religions,  and  this  process  was  in  full  swing  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  Christian  era." 


40       EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS   PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

(or,  as  some  would  say,  degenerate)  Buddhism 
which  we  find  in  the  later  Mahayanist  schools,  we 
are  not  obliged  to  accept  the  conclusion  that  the 
two  Buddhisms  are  separated  from  one  another  by 
an  unbridged  and  fathomless  chasm.  We  should 
be  warned  against  any  such  conclusion  by  our 
knowledge  of  the  fact,  vouched  for  by  the  Chinese 
pilgrims,  that  for  many  centuries  after  the  new 
teachings  had  risen  into  prominence  (shortly  after 
or  shortly  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era)  the  adherents  of  the  two  systems  studied  their 
scriptures  side  by  side  within  the  great  religious 
university  of  Nalanda,  and  lived  harmoniously  to 
gether  in  many  monasteries.  Even  in  the  matter 
of  language  there  was  no  real  cleavage.  The 
rather  prevalent  idea  that  Pali  was  exclusively  the 
sacred  language  of  the  Hinayana  and  that  Sanskrit 
was  exclusively  the  sacred  language  of  the 
Mahayana  is  far  from  being  strictly  accurate, 
though  it  is  true  that  by  the  adoption  of  Sanskrit 
as  their  literary  vehicle  the  Mahayanist  doctors 
were  better  able  to  move  away  from  the  strict 
orthodoxy  of  the  Pali  canon  than  if  they  had 
been  obliged  to  adhere  to  the  Pali  language. 

It  may  not  be  always  possible  to  trace  every 
link  in  the  evolutionary  chain,  and  in  some  cases 
it  is  quite  conceivable  that  the  evolution  would 
never  have  taken  place  had  not  the  Buddhist 
organism  reacted  to  stimuli  from  a  non-Buddhist 
environment ;  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  to 
many  characteristic  doctrines  of  the  Mahayana  of 


in.]  THE   MAHAYANA  41 

which  at  least  the  germs  cannot  be  traced  in  the 
earlier  or  later  speculations  of  the  Hinayanist 
schools. 

The  student  of  Buddhism  is  obliged  at  an 
early  stage  of  his  investigations  to  recognize  two 
important  facts.  One  is  that  the  Mahayana  is  not 
a  single  homogeneous  system  with  a  definite 
formulated  creed.  It  is  erroneous  to  ascribe  its 
foundation  to  any  single  man  or  even  to  any  single 
group  of  religious  teachers  ; l  and  the  uniformity 
which  was  lacking  at  the  commencement  was 
never  achieved  at  any  subsequent  period.  The 
Mahayana  includes  a  large  number  of  schools  and 
sects,  each  of  which,  as  we  have  already  noticed, 
compiled  its  own  canon ;  and  some  of  these  sects 
came  to  differ  from  one  another  much  more  widely 
than  the  early  Mahayanists  differed  from  some  of 
the  Hinayanists  of  their  own  time.  The  other 
important  fact,  the  significance  of  which  is  less 
generally  recognized,  is  that  the  Hlnayana  itself 
was  subdivided  into  various  schools  which,  though 
they  all  professed  adherence  to  the  canon,  and  all 
regarded  it  as  their  ultimate  authority,  did  not 
always  agree  in  their  interpretations  of  its  mean 
ing.2  These  schools  were  not  the  result  of  a 


1  Dr  Timothy  Richard  describes  the  Asvaghosha  of  the  Ch'i-hsin-lun 
as  "the  founder"  of  the  Mahayana  (The  Awakening  of  Faith,  p.  xiv., 
and  The  New  Testament  of  Higher  Buddhism,  pp.  37,  38,  and  50).     With 
regard  to  some  of  the  theories  and  suggestions  of  Dr  Richard  and  Mr 
A.  Lloyd,  see  the  author's  article  on  "  Buddhist  and  Christian  Origins  " 
in  The  Quest,  October  1912. 

2  See  above,  p.  35,  footnote  2. 


42       EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS   PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

disintegration  of  Buddhism  ;  rather  were  they  a 
proof  of  its  vitality.  Eighteen  is  the  traditional 
number  of  the  schools  that  had  come  into  exist 
ence  before  A3oka's  time,  and  in  name  at  least 
they  existed  for  many  centuries  after  his  death. 
As  late  as  the  year  559  of  our  era  we  hear 
of  a  monastery  which  contained  representatives 
of  all  the  eighteen  Hinayanist  schools — a  very 
remarkable  testimony  to  Buddhist  tolerance.1 

The  schools  of  the  Hinayana  debated  among 
themselves  many  questions  of  great  philosophical 
and  religious  importance  which  Buddha  was 
supposed  to  have  answered  enigmatically  or  not  at 
all,  and  they  were  founded  as  much  on  attempts 
to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  the  Master's  cryptic 
silence  as  on  varying  interpretations  of  his  spoken 
word.  It  is  in  the  discussions  of  these  schools, 
orthodox  and  unorthodox,  not  in  Babylonian 
poetry  or  prophecy  or  in  the  missionary  activity 
of  a  St  Thomas,  that  we  must  look  for  the  ultimate 
sources  of  the  principal  streams  that  flow  into  the 
ocean  of  Mahayanist  belief.  As  for  that  ocean 
itself,  let  us  admit  that  if  it  is  fringed  with  many 
a  sheltered  inlet  and  quiet  haven,  it  also  contains 
wreck-strewn  rocks  and  perilous  shallows  and 
profound  waters  that  no  man  can  fathom.  But 
which  of  all  the  streams  that  issue  from  the 
fountain  of  the  religious  thought  and  emotion 
of  mankind  does  not  flow  at  last  into  an  ocean 
that  is  very  much  like  this  ? 

1  See  Journal  of  the  Pali  Text  Society,  1904-5,  p.  67. 


in.]  TEACHINGS   OF   BUDDHA  43 

No  attempt  can  here  be  made  to  follow  the 
intricate  windings  of  Mahayanist  speculation,  but 
a  brief  glance  at  certain  aspects  of  Buddhist 
thought  in  a  few  of  its  successive  stages  will 
help  us  to  understand  the  point  of  view  here 
set  forth. 

The  records  of  primitive  Buddhism  leave 
unanswered  many  interesting  questions  relating 
to  the  beliefs  of  the  historical  Buddha,  but  their 
testimony  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the 
general  trend  of  his  teachings.  He  taught  his 
disciples  to  discard  what  he  conceived  to  be  false 
and  harmful  ideas  concerning  the  human  person 
ality  or  "soul,"  and  to  pursue  a  definite  method 
of  self-culture  and  self-discipline  which  would 
lead  to  the  annihilation  of  sorrow,  the  extinction 
of  the  "  three-fold  fire  "  of  delusion,  desire,  and 
malevolence,  and  the  attainment  of  the  passion 
less  serenity  of  "  arahantship."  Certain  ultimate 
problems  with  which  philosophy  loves  to  grapple 
and  which  some  other  religious  teachers  profess 
to  have  solved  through  "  revelation  "  were  deliber 
ately  set  aside  by  Buddha  as  having  nothing  to 
do  with  his  system  and  outside  the  scope  of  his 
teachings. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  indeed,  that  Buddha 
— who,  let  us  remember,  was  a  philosopher  in  a 
nation  of  philosophers — ignored  the  existence  of 
such  ultimate  problems.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
clear  that  he  had  himself  deeply  pondered  many 
profound  questions  which  for  frankly- stated  reasons 


44      EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS  PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

he  refused  to  discuss  with  his  disciples.1  It  is  one 
of  the  canonical  texts  that  tells  us  the  story  of  how 
Buddha  once  plucked  a  few  leaves  from  a  tree  and 
asked  his  disciples  whether  these  leaves  which  he 
had  plucked,  or  all  the  leaves  on  all  the  trees  of 
the  neighbouring  grove,  were  the  more  numerous. 
"  The  leaves  on  all  the  trees  of  the  grove,"  they 
said,  "  are  far  more  numerous  than  those  in  the 
hand  of  the  Holy  One."  "  Even  in  such  measure," 
said  Buddha,  "  are  the  things  which  I  have  learned, 
and  have  not  communicated  to  you,  more  numerous 
than  those  of  which  I  have  spoken.  And  why, 
my  disciples,  have  I  not  spoken  to  you  of  these 
things  ? "  And  he  goes  on  to  explain  that  it  is 
because  the  subjects  on  which  he  maintains  silence 
have  no  relation  to  the  truths  wThich  it  is  his 
mission  to  impart — the  truths  concerning  sorrow 
and  the  cessation  of  sorrow — and  have  no  bear 
ing  on  that  process  of  self -discipline  whereby  he 
would  have  his  disciples  achieve  the  destruction 
of  passion,  illusion,  and  ignoble  desire,  and  attain 
the  inward  illumination  and  perfect  peace  which 
culminate  in  Nirvana. 

The  canonical  books  contain  many  stories 
similar  in  significance  to  that  about  the  leaves  of 
the  trees.  Among  those  which  are  accessible  to 

1  "  We  can  scarcely  help  forming  the  impression  that  it  was  not  a 
mere  idle  statement  which  the  sacred  texts  preserve  to  us,  that  the 
Perfect  One  knew  much  more  which  he  thought  inadvisable  to  say, 
than   what   he   esteemed    it    profitable    to   his   disciples   to    unfold" 
(Qldeiiberg,  Buddha,  Eng.  trans.,  1882,  p.  208). 

2  See  the  Samyutta  Nikaya,  as  quoted  in   L.    de  la  V.    Poussin, 
Bouddhisme,  p.  58. 


ill.]  THE   "SILENCE"   OF   BUDDHA  45 

English  readers  may  be  mentioned  the  passages 
dealing  with  the  questions  of  Potthapada  —  to 
each  of  which  Buddha  makes  reply :  "  that  is  a 
matter  on  which  I  have  expressed  no  opinion  " ; l 
the  questions  of  Vacchagotta,  whose  problems  are 
greeted  by  Buddha  with  perfect  silence  ; 2  and  the 
questions  of  Malunkyaputta,  who  insists  eagerly 
and  almost  rudely  that  Buddha  should  either  solve 
the  problems  propounded  or  frankly  confess  his 
ignorance — yet  the  Master  does  neither.3 

Buddha's  "  silence  "  about  matters  on  which  he 
knew  that  speech  would  only  lead  to  misunder 
standings  may  be  compared  with  the  somewhat 
similar  attitude  of  another  Asiatic  sage  who  lived 
in  Buddha's  own  time,  though  neither  was  known 
to  the  other.  Confucius  was  born  about  twelve 
years  after  Buddha,  and  survived  him  about  four 
years.4  We  are  told  that  a  disciple  once  pressed 
him  for  an  answer  to  the  question  as  to  whether 
the  dead  retain  consciousness.  Like  Buddha,  but 
not  for  Buddha's  reasons,  Confucius  declined  to 
give  a  direct  reply.  He  merely  observed  that  if 
he  said  "  yes,"  this  might  lead  to  unnecessary 
extravagance  in  sacrifices  and  funerals,  and  thus 
the  living  would  be  neglected  for  the  sake  of 
the  dead ;  and  that  if  he  said  "  no,"  filial  piety 
might  decay,  and  the  bodies  of  the  dead  might 

1  See  RhjTs  Davids,  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  pp.  254-5. 

*  See  Olderiberg,  op.  cit.,  pp.  272-3. 

*  See  Oldenberg,,   op.  cit.,   pp.    117-122;    Warren,,    Buddhism    in 
Translations,  1906,  pp.  274-6. 

4  Buddha,  c.  563  to  c  483  B.C.  ;  Confucius,  551-479  B.C. 


46      EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS  PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

be  treated  with  disrespect.  Hence  he  left  the 
problem  unsolved.1  Perhaps  a  more  remarkable 
passage  is  that  in  which  his  disciple  Tzu-kung 
spoke  of  the  difference  between  the  ready 
frankness  with  which  Confucius  expounded  his 
social  and  ethical  principles  and  the  reticence 
which  he  observed  in  discoursing  about  meta 
physical  subjects  and  the  law  of  God.2  According 
to  the  Chinese  commentators,  this  passage  means 
that  Confucius  spoke  freely  to  all  his  disciples  on 
such  subjects  as  he  thought  were  suited  to  their 
capacities,  but  only  allowed  a  chosen  few  to  share 
his  thoughts  on  problems  of  a  deeper  kind.3 

We  might  define  the  attitude  of  Buddha 
towards  the  ultimate  problems  on  which  he  kept 
silence  by  the  use  of  a  simple  parable.  The  way 
of  Buddha  is  a  road  along  which  all  who  wish  to 
accept  him  as  their  guide  may  travel  safely  to 
the  supreme  blessedness  of  sainthood — the  ineffable 

1  Confucius  would  have  agreed  with  our  own  philosopher  Caird,  who 
warned  us  that   "the   belief  in   immortality  may  easily  become  an 
unhealthy  occupation  with  a  future  salvation,  which  prevents  us  from 
seeking  for  salvation  here  "  (The  Evolution  of  Religion,  1893,,  ii.  243). 

2  T'ien-Tao.     The  passage  occurs  in  Lun  Yii,  bk.  v.  ch.  xii. 

3  Both  Buddha  and  Confucius  would  have  approved  of  the  words  of 
PlotillUS  :  ef  ^XPW  A6^   ^  epwrav,  dXXot,  avvi.£vai  real  avrbv  crionrj/,  &<nrep  eyu 
O-IWTTO)  Kal  OVK  etdurfMi  \tyeiv. "   Readers  of  Chinese  literature  will  remember 
that  the  founder  of  Taoism  (whose  great  and  lonely  figure  is  but  dimly 
visible  through  the  mists  of  the  Tao-te-ching)  was  even  less  willing  than 
were  Confucius  and  Buddha  to  discuss  matters  which  were  beyond  the 
reach  of  verbal  analysis.     ("  The  Tao  which  can  be  expressed  in  words 
is  not  the  eternal  Tao  ;   the  name  which  can    be  uttered    is  not  its 
eternal  name.")     Gf.   Sextus  Pythagoricus  :  "  Wise  is  the  man  who 
even  in  silence  honours  God,   knowing  why  he  is  silent "  ;  and  St 
Augustine  :  ( '  si  dixi  non  est  quod  dicere  volui."    "  Of  Thee/'  says  Hooker 
in  his  fine  prayer,  ' '  our  fittest  eloquence  is  silence." 


in.]  A  PARABLE  47 

state  of  the  arahant.  But  there  are  pleasant 
meadows  and  seductive  gardens  within  sight  of 
the  road,  and  amid  the  trees  and  flowers  there 
are  winding  pathways  that  lead  into  many  a 
trackless  forest  and  deadly  morass.  Beyond  these 
there  rises  a  many-pinnacled  range  of  glorious 
mountains,  whose  snowy  peaks  seem  to  touch 
the  heavens,  and  whose  shining  cliffs  are  a 
perpetual  challenge  to  the  stout  -  hearted  way 
farer.  "  I  long,"  he  says,  "  to  explore  those  forests 
and  to  scale  those  mountain  heights."  "Yes," 
says  his  guide,  "  there  are  wonderful  secrets 
hidden  in  those  dark  forests,  and  there  is  a 
splendour  in  those  distant  hills.  But  if  you 
step  aside  to  wander  among  those  trees  and 
flowers,  and  to  solve  the  mystery  of  forest  and 
mountain,  you  will  lose  sight  of  the  road  which 
I  have  made  for  you.  Who  will  lead  you 
safely  through  those  fens  and  marshes  and  over 
those  pitiless  crags?  Where  will  you,  in  your 
stumblings,  come  across  another  path  that  will 
bring  you  safely  to  your  journey's  end?" 

A  fair  reply  would  be  that  bold  and  enquiring 
spirits  have  always  risked  the  danger  of  failure 
and  disaster  in  the  past  and  will  continue  to  do 
so  in  the  future.  So  long  as  there  are  heights 
that  remain  unsealed,  the  dauntless  spirit  of  man 
will  try  to  scale  them.  The  fact  that  Buddha 
discouraged  his  disciples  from  attempting  to  find 
a  way  to  the  shining  pinnacles  that  looked  down 
upon  them  from  afar  off  did  not  have  the 


48       EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS   PHILOSOPHY     [OH. 

result  of  keeping  Buddhist  philosophy  in  the 
plains.  High  up  among  the  snows  of  thought, 
adventurous  Western  mountaineers  have  found 
the  footsteps  of  Buddhist  explorers  who  reached 
those  heights  long  before  them :  and  perhaps 
there  are  some  glittering  peaks  that  have 
yielded  their  secrets  to  none  but  Buddhist 
climbers. 

If  Buddha  discouraged  his  followers  from 
ascending  the  perilous  heights  of  metaphysical 
speculation,  there  was  one  question  of  pressing 
interest  which  could  not  be  ignored,  though  it 
was  a  subject  on  which  both  speech  and  silence 
were  liable  to  mislead.  This  was  the  question 
of  the  existence  or  non-existence  of  a  permanent 
entity  in  human  personality. 

It  must  be  admitted  at  once  that  the  ordinary 
soul-theories  current  in  Buddha's  own  time  were 
by  him  uncompromisingly  rejected.  There  are 
several  passages  in  the  sacred  books  which,  if 
they  correctly  embody  the  belief  of  Buddha 
himself,  seem  to  indicate  not  only  that  he 
rejected  all  soul-theories  that  had  been  held  or 
suggested  in  the  past,  but  also  that  his  teach 
ings  were  incompatible  with  any  soul-theory  that 
human  ingenuity  might  excogitate  in  the  future. 
Such  is  the  well  -  known  "  chariot "  passage  at 
the  beginning  of  the  JMilinda  Dialogues,1  which 
seems  to  leave  us  no  way  of  escape  from  the 

1  See  S.B.E.,  xxxv.  43-5.     For  Chinese  versions,  see  Har.  xxiv.  vol. 
viii.  pp.  45,  54. 


in.]  THE   "CHARIOT"   PASSAGE  49 

conclusion  that  just  as  a  chariot  is  merely  a 
name  given  to  a  collection  of  wheels,  spokes, 
pieces  of  wood,  and  other  materials,  put  together 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them  serve  a  certain 
useful  purpose,  so  a  man  is  nothing  but  a  bundle 
of  skandhas l  or  integration  of  grouped  "  elements  " 
(sensations,  perceptions,  and  the  like),  and  ceases 
to  exist  when  those  "  elements  "  fall  apart.2 

An  even  more  uncompromising  passage  is  to 
be  found  in  one  of  the  works  belonging  to  the 
Chinese  translation  of  the  Hmayana  Abhidharma. 3 
It  describes  a  visit  paid  by  a  certain  king  to  a 
learned  monk.4 

1  The  skandhas  (Chinese  wu-yiin)  are  the  ' '  five  aggregates  "  which 
compose  a  living  being  (see  Warren,  Buddhism  in  Translations,  pp. 
487-96).      A  somewhat  similar  idea  found  its  way  into  Taoist  specula 
tion  (see  L.  Giles,  Taoist  Teachings,  1912,  p.  23). 

2  The  (e chariot'*  passage  is  not   quite  so  conclusive  against  the 
soul-theory  as  the  unwary  reader  may  suppose.     To  use  the  words  of 
James  Ward  in  his  Realm  of  Ends,  1911,  pp.  101-2,  "The  whole  is 
more  than  the  sum  of  its  parts — that  is  the  cardinal  characteristic  of 
evolution  as  understood  by  the  pluralist.     A  unity  that  is  not  more 
than  its  constituent  elements  is  no  real  unity  at  all :  it  is  only   a 
formal    or    mathematical    whole.       All    real    synthesis    entails  new 
properties   which  its  component  factors   in  their  previous    isolation 
did  not  possess."     Cf.  also  Dr  Sanday  in  his  Personality  in  Christ  and  in 
Ourselves,  1911,  p.  20  :  "There  is  a  Self  within  the  Self.     There  is  a 
something  within  us  which  is  not  either  foot  or  hand  or  eye,  which  is 
not  either  reason  or  emotion  or  will,   but  which  binds  together  all 
these  various  organs  and  faculties  in  one.     For  personality  we  want 
something  more  than  the  mere  congeries  of  thoughts  and  impulses 
and  appetites  and  passions  which  go  to  make  up  the  individual  man." 

3  See  Har.  xxii.  vol.  x.  p.  108  (B.N.  1267). 

4  The  names  of  king  and   monk  (Pi-lin-t'o   and  Lung-chun)  are 
suspiciously  like  Milinda  and  Nagasena  (Ndga  is  the  Chinese  Lung), 
from  which  it  might  be  inferred  that  this  story  comes  out   of  the 
Milinda  Dialogues.     But  it  does  not  appear  in  the  Pali  original   as 
translated  by  Rhys  Davids ;   moreover,  in  the  Chinese  version  of  the 
dialogues  the  names  of  king  and  monk  are  given  as  Mi-Ian  and  Na-hsien. 

D 


50      EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS  PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

"  '  I  have  come,'  he  said,  ( to  ask  you  about 
a  matter  which  perplexes  me.  All  the  other 
monks  I  have  visited  are  full  of  words,  but  they 
tell  me  nothing  to  the  purpose.  You,  I  am  sure, 
are  an  exceptional  monk,  and  will  readily  solve 
my  difficulty.'  '  What  is  it  your  majesty  wishes 
to  know  ? '  asked  the  monk.  '  I  want  you  to  tell 
me,'  said  the  king,  '  whether  the  soul  is  or  is  not 
distinct  from  the  body.'  '  That  is  a  question  which 
admits  of  no  reply,'  said  the  monk.  '  This  is  not 
fair,'  said  the  king  ;  '  why  will  you  not  give  me  a 
plain  answer  to  a  plain  question  ? '  '  Well '  said 
the  monk,  '  it  is  my  turn  to  be  the  questioner.  I, 
too,  am  in  doubt  about  something.  All  the  other 
kings  whom  I  have  questioned  are  very  talkative 
people,  but  your  majesty  is  an  exceptional  monarch, 
and  I  believe  you  will  readily  give  me  a  straight 
answer.'  '  Ask  your  question,'  said  the  king.  '  I 
want  your  majesty  to  tell  me  what  the  mangoes 
in  your  palace-garden  taste  like.  Are  they  bitter 
or  are  they  sweet  ? '  *  I  haven't  any  mango-trees 
in  my  garden,'  said  the  king.  The  monk  looked 
at  the  monarch  with  a  severe  countenance.  '  This 
is  not  fair,  your  majesty,'  he  said.  '  Why  don't 
you  give  me  a  plain  answer  to  my  question  ? ' 
6  But,'  said  the  king,  '  how  can  I  tell  you  about 
the  taste  of  my  mangoes  if  I  have  no  mango-trees 
in  my  garden  ? '  '  Well,  it  is  just  the  same  in  the 
matter  of  the  soul,'  said  the  monk.  6  There  is  no  such 
thing :  so  what  was  the  use  of  asking  me  whether 
it  was  distinct  or  not  distinct  from  the  body  ? ' 

Those  of  us  who  feel  rather  crushed  by  the 
climax  to  this  quaint  little  dialogue  may  console 


HSI-YU   MONASTERY,   CHIHLI. 


TOMBS   OF   MONKS,    HSI-YU    MONASTERY. 


in.]  SOUL  -  THEORIES  51 

ourselves  with  the  reflection  that  the  monk  was 
only  voicing  the  opinion  of  a  school — though  that 
school  was  for  a  long  time  regarded  as  the  citadel 
of  orthodoxy.  Buddha  himself  is  never  repre 
sented  as  having  disposed  of  the  soul  question 
in  so  thorough-going  a  fashion  as  did  the  monk 
with  his  analogy  of  the  non-existing  mangoes. 
A  foremost  exponent  of  Buddhism  has  told  us 
that  this  religion  "  stands  alone  among  the 
religions  of  India  in  ignoring  the  soul."  1  Would 
it  not  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  Buddhism 
ignored  the  soul  as  a  quasi -material  entity  which 
had  its  dwelling  in  the  physical  body  and  flew 
away  from  it  at  death  ?  That  Buddha  denied 
the  existence  of  this  kind  of  soul — and  therefore 
rejected  all  the  soul-theories  which  found  popular 
support  in  the  India  of  his  day — is  undeniably 
true ;  but  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  view 
that  he  had  a  loftier  soul-theory — or  rather  self- 
theory — of  his  own. 

A  story  which  gives  us  a  hint  of  Buddha's 
true  meaning  is  that  which  tells  us  how  the 
wandering  ascetic  Vaccha  asked  what  became 
of  the  Tathagata  after  death — that  is,  what  is 
the  state  of  the  sage  who  has  passed  away  from 
ordinary  human  life  after  having  attained  Nirvana. 
Does  Nirvana  (a  blessed  state  attainable  in  this 

1  Rhys  Davids,  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  p.  242.  He  adds  that 
"  the  vigour  and  originality  of  this  new  departure  are  evident  from  the 
complete  isolation  in  which  Buddhism  stands,  in  this  respect,  from  all 
other  religious  systems  then  existing  in  the  world."  Cf.  also  ibid., 
pp.  188-9. 


52      EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS    PHILOSOPHY     [CH. 

life)  result,  after  death,  in  total  extinction,  or 
does  it  lead  to  a  different  state  of  being?  To 
this  question  Buddha  replies  by  telling  Vaccha 
that  he  is  trying  to  probe  a  very  deep  mystery 
which  only  the  wise  can  comprehend.  "  You 
will  hardly  understand  it,"  he  says,  "  you  having 
different  views,  endurance,  inclinations,  efforts, 
and  teaching."  But  he  attempts  a  veiled  explana 
tion  ;  and  after  declaring  that  everything  material 
will  be  left  behind  at  death,  says  that  the 
Tathagata  "  when  thus  liberated  from  the  category 
of  materiality,  is  deep,  immeasurable,  difficult  to 
fathom,  like  the  vast  ocean."1 

A  very  similar  story  is  told  about  the  king 
of  Kosala  and  the  learned  nun  Khema.  The 
king  asks  the  nun  whether  the  Tathagata — the 
liberated  sage  who  has  attained  Nirvana  and 
has  passed  away  from  earth — does  or  does  not 
still  exist.  The  nun  replies  that  it  is  not 
correct  to  say  of  the  Tathagata  that  he  still 
exists ;  nor  is  it  correct  to  say  that  he  does 
not  exist ;  nor  is  it  correct  to  say  that  he  both 


1  See  the  Aggi-Vacchagotta-sutta,  quoted  by  Dr.  F.  Otto  Schrader 
in  the  Journal  of  the  Pali  Text  Society  (1904-5),  pp.  165-6,  and  by  Warren, 
op.  cit.,  pp.  123-8.  Dr  Schrader  has  ably  argued  against  the  theory 
that,  according  to  Buddha's  own  teaching,  Nirvana  was  followed  by 
annihilation.  He  observes  that  "we  are  not  entitled  to  say  that 
Buddha  denied  the  soul,  but  only  that  for  him  duration  in  time  was 
duration  of  a  flux  and  not  immutability  in  any  sense,  not  the  stability 
of  a  substance."  The  doctrine  of  anatta  (no  soul)  "embraces  the  five 
khandas  or  constituent  parts  of  nature,  not  more.  ...  It  was  the 
Buddha  and  no  one  else  who  made  the  doctrine  of  anatta  a  moral 
principle,  and  that  not  by  denying  the  Absolute  One,  but  presupposing 
it  as  the  true  self,  the  only  reality." 


in.]  PERSONALITY  53 

exists  and  does  not  exist.  After  some  further 
discussion  the  nun  observes  that  the  great  ocean 
is  deep,  immeasurable,  unfathomable.  The  being 
of  the  Tathagata  can  no  longer  "be  gauged  by 
the  measure  of  the  corporeal  world ;  he  is  deep, 
immeasurable,  unfathomable  as  the  great  ocean." 

That  this  reply  of  the  nun  Khema  was 
recognized  as  thoroughly  orthodox  is  shown  by  the 
care  taken  to  represent  Buddha  as  having  given  her 
words  the  stamp  of  his  approval ;  for  the  story 
goes  on  to  say  that  the  king  repeated  his  question 
in  an  interview  with  Buddha  himself,  and  that 
the  Master's  reply  was  word  for  word  identical 
with  the  reply  previously  given  by  the  nun.1 

We  must  beware  of  supposing  that  these 
comparisons  of  the  deceased  Tathagata  with  the 
"  deep  immeasurable  ocean  "  indicate  nothing  more 
than  a  kind  of  vague  pantheism,  and  imply  the 
utter  extinction  of  the  human  personality.  The 
crux  of  the  whole  problem  is  this  very  word 
"  personality."  If  we  knew  what  personality  was, 
we  should  possess  a  key  that  would  unlock  some 
of  the  deepest  mysteries  before  which  humanity 
stands  baffled.  It  is  in  vain  to  probe  the  secret 
of  Buddha's  deepest  thoughts  on  this  subject ;  yet 
perhaps  the  meaning  of  such  passages  as  those 
above  quoted  will  become  clearer  to  us  when 
we  compare  them  with  the  utterances  of  some 
of  those  Western  thinkers  who  (often  unknown 

1  See  Okleiiberg,  op.  cit.,  pp.  278-80.     It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Western  mystics  also  speak  of  in  vastissimum  divinitatis  pelagus  navigare. 


54       EARLY   BUDDHISM— ITS   PHILOSOPHY    [CH. 

to  themselves)  are  Buddha's  philosophical  kinsmen. 
"  Couldst  thou  annihilate  thyself  for  a  moment," 
said  Eckhart,  "  thou  wouldst  possess  all  that 
God  is  in  himself."1  According  to  the  mystic's 
psychology,  as  an  eloquent  writer  of  our  own 
time  tells  us,  it  is  an  error  to  regard  conscious 
ness  of  self  as  the  measure  of  personality.  "  The 
depths  of  personality  are  unfathomable,  as 
Heraclitus  already  knew ;  the  light  of  conscious 
ness  only  plays  on  the  surface  of  the  water."2  It 
is  of  interest  to  find  here  a  parallel  drawn  between 
the  real  (as  distinct  from  the  phenomenal) 
personality  and  the  deep  ocean — precisely  the 
same  parallel  as  that  employed  by  Buddha. 
"  So  far  is  it  from  being  true,"  continues  the 
English  thinker,  "  that  the  self  of  our  immediate 
consciousness  is  our  true  personality,  that  we  can 
only  attain  personality,  as  spiritual  and  rational 
beings,  by  passing  beyond  the  limits  which  mark  us 
off  as  separate  individuals.  Separate  individuality, 
we  may  say,  is  the  bar  which  prevents  us  from 
realizing  our  true  privileges  as  persons." 


1  Eckhart's  position,  like  that  of  the  writer  of  the  Theologia  Germanica 
and   such   mystics   as   Blake  (' '  annihilate  the  Selfhood  in   me "),  is 
perhaps  nearer  to  that  of  the  Upanishads  than  it  is  to  the  position  of 
Buddha.     It  is  very  necessary  to  avoid  reading  into  Buddhism  meanings 
which  are  Vedantist  and   not   Buddhist ;    yet  Dr   Coomaraswamy   is 
undoubtedly  justified  in  his  remark  that  "  through  all  Indian  schools  of 
thought  there  runs  like  a  golden  thread  the  fundamental  idealism  of 
the  Upanishads— the  Vedanta."     He  is  right  to  make  no  exception 
of  Buddhism,,  for  the  golden  thread  is  not  missing  from  the  woven 
fabric  of  Buddhist  thought. 

2  Dr  W.  R.  Inge's  Christian  Mysticism  (2nd  ed.),  p.  30.      Of.  also 
Underbill,  Mysticism,  pp.  507-8,  et  passim. 


in.]  THE   FALSE   EGO  55 

These  words  are,  I  believe,  in  entire  conson 
ance  with  the  authentic  thought  and  utterance  of 
the  Buddha.  It  is  very  necessary,  no  doubt, 
to  guard  against  the  rash  application  to  the 
philosophical  notions  of  ancient  India  terms 
which  have  acquired  a  special  significance  in 
Western  thought ;  but  it  may  nevertheless 
be  confidently  maintained  that  there  is  a  close 
association  between  the  Buddhist  idea  of  a 
personality  liberated  from  the  phenomenal  ego 
and  the  belief  of  Western  mystics  and  others 
in  a  transcendental  self  freed  from  the  limita 
tions  of  temporal  individuality.1 

Speaking  of  the  false  ego,  "  a  half-way  abstrac 
tion  of  the  ordinary  understanding,  a  bastard 
product  of  bad  metaphysics  and  bad  science," 
the  English  writer  last  quoted  observes  that 
Christianity  from  the  very  first  rejected  it.2  It 
is  an  instructive  fact  that  several  centuries  before 
the  birth  of  Christianity  this  same  "bastard 
product  of  bad  metaphysics "  had  already  been 
rejected  and  cast  out  by  the  great  thinker  who 
founded  Buddhism. 

1  As  Mr  G.  R.   S.  Mead  observes  in  a  recent  essay  (The  Quest, 
iii.    G69),   it    would   be  convenient  if  we   "  could   have   some    satis 
factory  term   to    distinguish    the   transcendental    or   spiritual    'self 
(what  is  sometimes  called  the  '  mystical  I ' ),  the  fundamental  being 
or   life   beyond   subject   and   object,,    from    the    ever-changing   '  me ' 
which  Buddhism  insists  quite  rightly  on  regarding  as  the  impermanent 
ego."     The  Buddhist  view  of  the   ego   is  close   to   that   of  several 
prominent  thinkers  of  our  own  day,  besides  those  mentioned  in  the 
text.      Cf.}  for  example,  F.  C.  S.  Schiller  (the  apostle  of  Humanism)  in 
his  Riddles  of  the  Sphinx,  1910  ed.,  pp.  275-6. 

2  Dr  VV.  R.  Inge,,  Personal  Idealism  and  Mysticism,  1907,  p.  103. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE    IDEALS    OF    HINAYANA   AND    MAHAYANA 

THE  reflections  contained  in  the  foregoing  chapter 
may  help  the  reader  to  understand  the  significance 
of  the  statement  that  the  numerous  schools  of  the 
Hinayana  were  founded  partly  on  the  results  of 
the  discussions  of  questions  to  which  Buddha  was 
supposed  to  have  given  enigmatic  replies,  and 
partly,  also,  on  different  interpretations  of  his 
mysterious  silence.  It  was  further  pointed  out 
that  in  the  discussions  and  disputes  of  the  Hinayana 
schools,  orthodox  and  unorthodox,  we  may  trace  the 
origin  of  most  of  the  characteristic  beliefs  of  the 
Mahayana.1  Let  us  now  glance  briefly  at  the 
growth  of  three  of  those  beliefs — the  belief  in  the 
divinity  of  Buddha,  the  belief  in  the  efficacy  of 
faith,  and  the  belief  in  saviour-bodhisats. 

The  beginnings  of  the  gradual  process  of  the 
deification  of  the  great  Indian  teacher  may  be 
traced  in  the  earliest  records  of  primitive  Buddhism 
— for  the  trustful  reverence  shown  towards  their 
much-loved  Master  by  all  his  disciples  wras  not  far 
removed  from  religious  adoration.  We  may  cite 
the  enthusiastic  words  of  the  disciple  Sariputta. 

1  See  above,  pp.  40-42. 
56 


CH.  iv.]  BUDDHA   AND   MIRACLES  57 

"  Now  the  venerable  Sariputta  came  to  the  place 
where  the  Exalted  One  was,  and  having  saluted 
him,  took  his  seat  respectfully  at  his  side,  and 
said  :  '  Lord  !  such  faith  have  I  in  the  Exalted  One, 
that  methinks  there  never  has  been,  nor  will  there 
be,  nor  is  there  now  any  other,  whether  wanderer 
or  brahmin,  who  is  greater  and  wiser  than  the 
Exalted  One — that  is  to  say,  as  regards  the  higher 
wisdom.' " l 

The  Master  meets  his  disciple's  enthusiasm  in  a 
spirit  of  gentle  irony.  "  You  have  burst  forth  into 
a  song  of  ecstasy,  Sariputta,"  he  says,  "  but  how  do 
you  know  that  there  never  has  been  and  never  will 
be  any  greater  or  wiser  teacher  than  I  am  ? "  And 
then  in  the  Socratic  manner  he  cross-examines 
Sariputta  on  the  meaning  of  his  words,  and 
compels  him  to  admit  that  he  does  not  really 
know  "the  hearts  of  the  Able  Awakened  Ones 
that  have  been,  and  are  to  come,  and  now  are." 
He  only  knows  "  the  lineage  of  the  faith." 

In  another  canonical  dialogue  we  hear  of  a 
"young  householder"  who  went  to  Buddha  and 
begged  him  to  empower  one  of  his  disciples  to 
perform  a  miracle,  that  thereby  all  the  people 
might  recognize  him  as  their  lord.  "This  is  a 
prosperous  place,"  he  said,  "crowded  with  people 
devoted  to  the  Exalted  One.  It  were  well  if  the 
Exalted  One  were  to  give  command  to  some 
brother  to  perform,  by  power  surpassing  that  of 
ordinary  men,  a  mystic  wonder."  If  Buddha  would 
do  this,  he  added,  it  would  increase  the  devotion 

1  Rhys  Davids,  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  ii.  p.  87. 


58  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

with  which  the  people  regarded  him.1  But  the 
Master  refuses  to  perform  common  miracles  or  to 
empower  others  to  perform  them  ;  the  greatest  and 
most  wonderful  thing  that  can  be  shown  even  by 
a  Buddha  is  the  way  that  leads  to  arahantship, 
the  self-discipline  that  ends  in  the  extirpation  of 
the  roots  of  all  sorrow.2 

This  dialogue  contains  one  of  the  most  de 
servedly  famous  of  Buddhist  stories — that  which 
narrates  how  a  certain  monk  by  the  exercise  of 
miraculous  powers  ascended  to  the  various  heavens 
ruled  over  by  the  gods  of  the  Hindu  pantheon, 
in  the  hope  of  obtaining  from  those  mighty 

1  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  p.  276. 

2  ((  As  usual;  the  Buddha  is  represented  as  not  taking  the  trouble  to 
doubt  or  dispute  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  [miraculous]  powers.     He 
simply  says  that  he  loathes  the  practice  of  them  ;  and  that  a  greater 
and  better  wonder  than  any  or  all  of  them  is  education  in  the  system  of 
self-training  which  culminates  in  Arahantship.     There  is  no  evidence  of 
a  similarly  reasonable  view  of  this  question  of  wonders  having  been  put 
forward   by  any  Indian  teacher  before   the  Buddha." — Rhys   Davids, 
op.  cit.,  pt.  i.  p.  272.     In  this  connection  it  is  of  great  interest  to  note 
the   new   attitude   which   some   Christian   theologians   are    beginning 
to  take  up  with  regard  to  the  "miraculous"  aspects  of  Christianity. 
Miracles,  eays  the  Rev.   J.   M.   Thompson,  "are  a  useful  means  of 
rousing  and  reviving  popular  religion  of  a  lower  type.    But  to  any  high 
religious  experience  they  are  most  often  a  hindrance  and  a  distraction. 
So  we  may  sum  up  the  case  by  saying  that  the  critical  conclusion, 
'  miracles   do   not   happen,'   finds   a   welcome    waiting   for   it   in   the 
religious  experience  ( miracles  do  not  matter.'     And  faith  is  set   free 
to  reconstitute  its  world  with  greater  sincerity  both  towards  history 
and  towards  religion."—  Through  Facts  to  Faith,  1912,  p.  75.      Cf.  the 
Rev.  A.  C.  Headlam's  observation  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  disappointed 
some  people  because  ' '  He  would  not  work  any  conspicuous  miraculous 
sign.     There   was    no    thaumaturgic    display   such    as    the    Messiah, 
according   to  them,  might  be  expected  to  make.     He  would  not  let 
them  make  Him  king — the  reason,  of  course,  being  that  He  had  a  far 
higher  and  more  spiritual  aim  than  anything  that  they  understood  " 
— Miracles:  Papers  and  Sermons,  p.  49  (Longmans,  Green  &  Co.  :  1911). 


PAGODA  AT   HSI-YU   MONASTERY,   CHIHLI. 


[Facing  p.  58. 


iv.]  BRAHMA  59 

beings  an  answer  to  a  profound  metaphysical 
problem.  One  after  another,  all  confessed  their 
inability  to  solve  it,  each  group  of  deities  referring 
the  monk  to  the  group  that  was  "  more  potent 
and  more  glorious  than  we.  They  will  know  it." 
After  passing  through  all  the  heavens  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest,  he  comes  at  last  to  the  gods 
of  the  retinue  of  Brahma ;  even  they,  however, 
like  all  the  lesser  gods,  confessed  their  ignorance. 
"But  there  is  Brahma,  the  great  Brahma,"  they 
said,  "the  Supreme  One,  the  Mighty  One,  the 
All-seeing  One,  the  Ruler,  the  Lord  of  all, 
the  Controller,  the  Creator,  the  Chief  of  all, 
appointing  to  each  his  place,  the  Ancient  of  days, 
the  Father  of  all  that  are  and  are  to  be  !  He  is 
more  potent  and  more  glorious  than  we.  He  will 
know  it."1  Then  the  monk  approaches  the  great 
Brahma,  arid  once  more  states  his  problem ;  but 
the  great  Brahma,  anxious  to  escape  the  humilia 
tion  of  confessing  that  there  are  mysteries  beyond 
the  reach  of  even  so  mighty  and  glorious  a  god 
as  himself,  tries  to  evade  the  question.  When  the 
monk  insists  upon  a  direct  answer,  Brahma  at  last 
takes  him  aside  and  makes  an  admission  which  he 
was  ashamed  to  make  in  the  presence  of  the 
assembled  deities.  Even  he,  the  great  Brahma, 
the  Controller,  the  Ancient  of  days,  the  Father 
of  all  that  are  and  are  to  be,  is  unable  to  solve 
the  problem.  He  bids  the  monk  go  to  Buddha, 
and  chides  him  for  having  vainly  sought  an  answer 

1  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  pt.  i.  p.  281. 


60  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAY  AN  A  [CH. 

from  the  mere  gods.  "  Go  you  now,  return  to  the 
Exalted  One,  ask  him  the  question,  and  accept  the 
answer  according  as  he  shall  make  reply." 

The  Buddhists,  let  us  remember,  did  not  deny 
the  existence  of  the  Hindu  gods,  but  they  regarded 
them  as  limited  in  knowledge  and  power,  as  liable 
to  rebirth  in  a  lower  sphere,  as  unemancipated 
from  change  and  illusion,  and  as  debarred  (so  long 
as  they  remained  gods)  from  the  attainment  of 
supreme  wisdom  and  felicity.  To  all  such  beings 
Buddha,  and  indeed  every  arahant,  was  immeasur 
ably  superior,  for  arahantship  is  a  state  which  far 
transcends  in  glory  the  highest  of  the  heavens,  and 
to  which  the  greatest  of  the  gods  cannot  aspire. 
But  to  withhold  the  title  of  god  from  a  being 
that  is  wiser  and  greater  than  all  the  gods  is  to 
place  an  arbitrary  limitation  on  the  idea  of  god 
head  ;  therefore  the  elevation  of  Buddha  to  a  loftier 
sphere  than  that  assigned  to  Brahma,  the  mightiest 
of  the  known  gods,  had  an  inevitable  result  which 
might  easily  have  been  foreseen.  The  problem 
of  the  Mahayanists  was  to  deify  Buddha  without 
depriving  Buddhahood  of  what  may  be  termed 
its  superdivinity ;  and  the  obvious  solution  was 
so  to  exalt  the  conception  of  godhead  as  to  make 
it  include  the  conception  of  Buddhahood. 

We  may  say,  then,  that  the  deification  of 
Buddha,  though  it  is  a  characteristic  feature  of 
the  Mahayana,  was  already  implicit  in  the 
dogmatics  of  the  primitive  Buddhists.  Similarly, 
the  notion  of  the  efficacy  of  faith — a  notion  which 


iv.]  SALVATION  BY  FAITH  61 

in  certain  Mahayanist  sects  has  become  all- 
important — is  easily  traced  to  Hmayanist  origins. 
Sariputta's  "  song  of  ecstasy," 1  already  referred  to, 
is  simply  a  declaration  of  faith  in  one  who  is 
described  as  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  teachers. 
Here,  indeed,  we  have  no  hint  of  the  later  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  faith  alone.  Perhaps  one  of  the 
earliest  passages  in  which  this  doctrine  is  suggested 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Milinda  Dialogues,  which  are 
Hmayanist  but  extra-canonical — that  is  to  say, 
they  were  not  put  together  until  after  the  canon 
had  been  closed.  One  of  the  questions  which 
King  Milinda  puts  to  the  monk  Nagasena  is  as 
follows : — 

" '  You  people  say,  Nagasena,  that  though  a  man 
should  have  lived  a  hundred  years  an  evil  life, 
yet  if,  at  the  moment  of  death,  thoughts  of  the 
Buddha  should  enter  his  mind,  he  will  be  reborn 
among  the  gods.  This  I  don't  believe.  And  thus 
do  they  also  say :  By  one  case  of  destruction 
of  life  a  man  may  be  born  in  purgatory.  That, 
too,  I  cannot  believe.' 

" '  But  tell  me,  O  king,  would  even  a  tiny  stone 
float  on  the  water  without  a  boat  ? ' 

666  Certainly  not.' 

" '  Very  well ;  but  would  not  a  hundred  cart 
loads  of  stones  float  on  the  water  if  they  were 
loaded  in  a  boat  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  they  would  float  right  enough.' 

" '  Well,  good  deeds  are  like  the  boat.' " J 

1  See  p.  57. 

2  S.B.E.,  xxxv.  123-4. 


62  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAY  ANA  [CH. 

This  little  fragment  throws  an  interesting  light 
on  certain  popular  Buddhist  beliefs  of  the  time.  It 
indicates  that  when  the  book  was  written  the 
ordinary  lay  Buddhist  looked  forward  to  a  re-birth 
in  one  of  the  age-long  but  not  eternal  "  heavens  " 
rather  than  to  the  more  exalted  state  of  Nirvana. 
There  is,  indeed,  reason  to  believe  that  even  in 
Asoka's  time  this  was  in  full  accordance  with  the 
unwritten  Buddhism  of  the  lay  masses  as  distinct 
from  the  canonical  Buddhism  of  the  cloistered 
philosophers.1  Neither  "heaven"  or  "purgatory" 
was  a  Mahayanist  invention  or  innovation.2  The 
passage  just  quoted  shows  us,  however,  that 
the  king  was  not  prepared  to  swallow  certain 
tenets  of  popular  Buddhism  without  a  grimace : 
indeed  he,  the  unconverted  layman,  shows  himself 
actually  more  orthodox — more  in  sympathy  with 
the  philosophical  Buddhism  of  the  canon — than 
his  monkish  preceptor.  Like  Buddha  himself,  he 
disbelieves,  for  example,  in  the  efficacy  of  death 
bed  repentance.  According  to  strict  Buddhist 
teaching,  there  is  no  way  of  escape  from  the 
law  that  as  a  man  sows,  so  shall  he  reap. 
Man  is  master  of  his  fate,  but  the  past  cannot 
be  annulled,  any  more  than  it  can  be  lived  over 
again.  The  effects  of  the  past  live  in  the 
present,  and  the  future  will  be  moulded  by  the 

1  Of.  Asoka's  Rock  Edict,  vi.,  and  also  the  Rupnath  Edict. 

2  As  eternal  punishment  is  not  taught  by  Buddhism   in  any  of 
its    forms,   it  is    inaccurate  to  speak  of    Buddhist    "  hells."      The 
Chinese    term  ti-yii  is  more    appropriately  rendered  by  the   word 
"  purgatory." 


iv.]  BUDDHIST  ETHICS  63 

thoughts  and  acts  of  to-day.1  No  "unearned" 
supernatural  grace,  no  priestly  absolution,  no 
magical  rites  or  sacramental  ceremonies,  can 
accelerate  the  attainment  of  a  state  of  blessedness  : 
nor  can  their  absence  retard  it.2  But  from  the 
passage  quoted  it  is  clear  that  there  was  already 
a  falling  away  from  the  uncompromising  sternness 
of  primitive  Buddhist  ethics,  and  that  the  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  faith  alone  had  already  become 
popular.  That  the  Milinda  Dialogues  were  com 
posed  at  a  time  of  doctrinal  confusion  is  plainly 
indicated  by  the  incomplete  and  evasive  manner 
in  which  the  monk  Nagasena  attempts  to  deal  with 
the  ethical  problem  raised  by  the  king — a  problem, 
be  it  noted,  which  in  one  form  or  another  has 
perplexed  the  minds  of  many  to  whom  Buddhism 
is  a  sealed  book.  What  the  king  found  it  difficult 
to  believe  was  that  a  man  who  has  lived  a  life  of 
consistent  sinfulness  could  win  salvation  merely  by 
fixing  his  thoughts  on  Buddha  during  the  last 
moments  of  his  ill-spent  life.  If  Buddha  himself 
had  been  asked  to  deal  with  this  point,  he  would 
have  solved  the  difficulty  by  simply  denying  the 


1  "  We  are  spinning  our  fates.     Every  smallest  stroke  of  vice  and 
virtue  leaves  its  never  so  little  sear.  .  .  .  Nothing  we  ever  do  is  in 
strict  literalness  wiped  out."     Thus  spoke  William  James,  echoing  the 
teachings  of  Buddha. 

2  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  strict  Buddhism  would  regard  as 
gravely  erroneous    and  immoral   all   such  doctrines    as  that   which 
condemns  the  unbaptized  infant  to  an  eternal  (i  limbo "  and  to  ex 
clusion  from  participation  in  the  beatific  vision.     For  the  teaching  of 
Catholic  missionaries  in  China  011  this  point,  tee  Father  Wolferstan, 
Catholic  Church  in  China,  11)09,  pp.  405-6. 


64  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

truth  of  the  alleged  fact.  Such  a  man,  he  would 
have  said,  is  not  saved — that  is  to  say,  the  inexorable 
law  of  retribution  will  not  cease  to  work  at  the 
mere  bidding  of  a  tardy  repentance.  If  the  sinner 
has  in  very  truth  undergone  a  fundamental  change 
of  character,  if  his  repentance  is  not  due  merely 
to  fear  or  to  a  temporary  quiescence  of  evil  im 
pulses  owing  to  physical  weakness  or  pain,  then 
in  his  next  life  he  will  assuredly  find  himself  in 
a  less  miserable  and  ignoble  state  than  if  no  such 
fundamental  change  of  character  had  taken  place ; 
but  no  death-bed  repentance,  however  sincere,  can 
save  him  from  the  necessity  of  expiating  the  wrong 
doing  or  wrong-thinking  of  the  past.  In  some 
such  way  as  this,  we  may  assume,  Buddha  would 
have  dealt  with  the  problem  of  King  Milinda. 
The  monk  Nagasena,  however,  evades  the  real 
point  at  issue.  Instead  of  expounding  the  orthodox 
doctrine  of  "karma,"  he  merely  draws  a  rather 
inconsequential  analogy  between  good  deeds  and 
a  boat — ignoring  the  fact  that  it  is  the  alleged 
efficacy  of  faith,  not  the  efficacy  of  good  deeds, 
that  is  in  question. 

Now  if  we  turn  to  the  Chinese  version  of  the 
Milinda  Dialogues — a  version  which  was  not  made 
till  the  fourth  or  perhaps  the  fifth  century  of  our 
era — we  find  a  much  bolder  and  more  explicit 
statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  efficacy  of  faith 
than  we  have  found  in  the  Pali  original.  The  first 
part  of  the  Chinese  version  of  the  above -quoted 
dialogue  agrees  with  the  Pali — that  is  to  say,  the 


iv.J  NAGASENA  65 

king  expresses  his  disbelief  in  the  doctrine  that  the 
life-long  sinner  who  turns  religious  on  his  death 
bed  will  for  that  reason  be  transported  to  heaven, 
and  Na-hsien  (Nagasena)  in  his  reply  makes  use 
of  the  illustration  of  the  stones  and  the  ship. 

"The  ship  is  strong,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"  and  will  bear  the  weight  of  many  large  stones. 
So  with  a  man  and  his  sins.  He  may  have  a 
wicked  nature,  but  if  only  he  will  once  direct  his 
thoughts  earnestly  towards  Buddha,1  he  will  not 
enter  purgatory,  but  will  be  re-born  in  heaven. 
But  the  man  who  has  done  evil  and  is  ignorant  of 
the  word  of  Buddha  2  is  like  the  small  stone  that 
sank,  —  he  when  he  dies  must  descend  to 
purgatory."  3 

When  it  is  remembered  that  this  passage  is 
taken  from  a  work  which  belongs  to  the 
Hinayanist  section  of  Buddhist  literature,  it  will 
be  realized  that  the  doctrine  of  faith,  though 
certainly  inconsistent  with  the  teachings  of  the 
historical  Buddha,  is  not  one  which  can  be 
regarded  as  the  exclusive  property  of  the 
Mahayana.4 

We  are  forced  to  a  similar  conclusion  even  in 


3  For  the  two  incomplete  Chinese  versions  of  Milinda,  see  Har.  xxiv. 
vol.  viii.  pp.  43  ff.     (B.N.  1358).       The  dialogue  quoted  will  be  found 
on  p.   50.  .    It  is  of  course  impossible  to  say  from  what  text  of  Milinda 
the  Chinese  translator  worked.     It  certainly  differed  from  the  Pali  text 
now  known  (see  S.B.E.,  xxxvi.  Introduction). 

4  Salvation  by  faith  is  the  distinguishing1  feature  of  what  we  may 
call  the  Amidist  theology  (see  below,  pp.  92  ff.). 

E 


66  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

respect  of  the  most  characteristic  of  all  the 
Mahayanist  teachings  —  the  important  doctrines 
relating  to  the  saving  or  redeeming  power  of  the 
bodhisats.  But  it  is  in  the  peculiar  emphasis 
given  to  the  theory  of  the  bodhisats  that  we  must 
recognize  the  most  pronounced  contrast  between 
the  doctrinal  systems  of  the  smaller  and  the 
greater  Vehicles ;  and  some  insight  into  the  rival 
conceptions  of  arahantship  and  bodhisatship  is 
essential  to  a  clear  understanding  of  the  relative 
positions  of  the  two  great  branches  of  Buddhist 
thought. 

£akyamuni  taught  that  the  ideal  at  which  each 
man  should  aim  is  arahantship.  An  arahant  is  one 
who  has  travelled  along  the  Eightfold  Path  that 
leads  to  peace,  insight,  and  wisdom,  and  has 
emancipated  himself  from  the  "  bonds  "  of  doubt, 
delusion,  sensuality,  hatred,  egotistic  hopes  and 
desires,  pride,  self-righteousness,  ignorance.  The 
arahant  sums  up  in  himself  all  the  qualities  and 
characteristics  of  the  ineffable  state  of  sambodhi 
— the  perfection  of  tranquil  joy,  passionlessness, 
harmony,  enlightenment.  Having  once  attained 
this  mountain-summit,  this  clear  pool  beyond  the 
jungle,  this  "island  amid  the  raging  waters,"  this 
"  home  of  tranquillity,"  this  blissful  state  of  Nirvana, 
the  arahant  will  never  again  be  subject  to  the  pains 
and  sorrows  of  phenomenal  existence.  He  has 
reached  the  "  other  shore  "  (to  use  a  common 
Buddhist  expression),  and  is  saved  for  all  eternity. 
This  state  of  salvation,  according  to  Sakyamuni, 


iv.]  BODHISATSHIP  67 

each  man  must  reach  through  his  own  efforts. 
Buddha  himself  was  merely  the  Master  of  Wisdom, 
under  whose  guidance  men  were  to  tread  the  Path. 
"  Betake  yourselves,"  he  said,  "  to  no  external 
refuge.  Hold  fast  to  the  truth  as  a  lamp.  Hold 
fast  as  a  refuge  to  the  truth.  Look  not  for  refuge 
to  any  one  besides  yourselves."1 

Mahayana  Buddhism,  on  the  other  hand,  dis 
credits  or  dethrones  the  ideal  of  arahantship,  and 
sets  up,  as  much  more  worthy  of  reverence,  the 
ideal  of  bodhisatship.2  The  bodhisat  is  one  who 
contains  within  himself  the  essence,  or  rather  the 


1  Mahfi-parinibbana-suttanta,  S.B.E.,  xi.  38.     In  some  important 
respects  the  Buddha  would  have  found  himself  in  much  closer  sympathy 
with   Pelagius   and   Ctelestius    than    with    the   orthodox    Augustine, 
as  is  clear  from  his  teaching  that  man  is  to  rely  on  himself  for  his 
own  spiritual  development,  and  that  he  has  in  his  own  nature  inherent 
capacity  for  moral  progress.     Moreover  —  like  Pelagius,  a  thousand 
years  after  him — the  Buddha  was  not  in  favour  of  an  extreme  asceticism. 
Pelagius  was  unconsciously  repeating  the  wise  counsel  given  long  before 
by  the  Buddha  when  he  said,  "  corpus  non  frangendum  sed  regendum  est" 

2  The  word  bodhisat  (bodhlmttva — essence  of  perfect  enlightenment) 
is  represented  in  Chinese  by  four  characters  (see  Index  8),  which  in 
modern  Pekingese  are  read  p'u-t'i-sa-t'o.     This  clumsy  term  is  almost 
always  written  by  Chinese  authors  in  the  abbreviated  form  p'u-sa.     In 
spoken  English  the  letters  p  and  t  before  a  vowel  are  usually  pronounced 
with  a  slight  aspirate  ;  the  sound  of  the  two  Chinese  characters  p'u-xa 
may  therefore  be  appropriately  rendered  in  English  by  the  word  pusa. 
Hence  in  these  pages  this  word  will  be  used  to  represent  the  Chinese 
transcription  of  the  Sanskrit  word  bodhisattva.     Similarly,  in  the  case  of 
the  sacred  hill  or  island  which  forms  the  subject  of  chapters  xi.-xiii.,  the 
name  Potala  or  Potalaka,  which  is  represented  in  Chinese  by  characters 
bearing  the  Pekingese  sounds  p(u-t'o-lo-chia  (7ca),  and  usually  appears  in 
the  abbreviated  form  p'u-t'o,  is  rendered  in  this  book  by  the  word  Puto. 
The  first  syllable  of  this  word  should  be  pronounced  (approximately) 
as  an  Englishman  would  pronounce  poo,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first 
syllable  of  the  word  pusa.     Apart  from  the  two  words  Pusa  and  Puto, 
nearly  all  Chinese  terms  and   names  employed  in  this  volume  are 
transcribed  in  strict  accordance  with  the  system  known  as  Wade's. 


68  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MA,HAYANA  [CH. 

potentiality,  of  perfect  knowledge.  He  is  one  who 
has  registered  a  solemn  vow  (pranidhana)  that  he 
will  become  a  Buddha  for  the  sake  of  the  world's 
salvation ;  but  his  approach  to  Buddhahood  may 
be  described  as  asymptotic,  for  he  abstains  from 
participation  in  eternal  blessedness  so  long  as 
there  remains  in  the  universe  a  single  being  who 
is  still  enmeshed  in  pain  or  misery.  The  arahant, 
complains  the  Mahay  anist,  saves  no  one  but  him 
self.  He  is  like  one  who  has  been  confined  with 
others  in  a  dungeon,  and  who,  having  found  a 
secret  way  of  escape,  hastens  to  set  himself  at 
liberty,  while  callously  leaving  his  fellow-prisoners 
in  darkness  and  captivity.  The  bodhisat,  on  the 
contrary,  is  the  embodiment  of  supreme  unselfish 
ness.  Freedom  and  Nirvana  are  within  his  reach, 
but  he  will  not  avail  himself  of  the  fruits  of  his 
virtue  and  wisdom  until  all  beings  that  exist  in  all 
the  worlds  have  passed  before  him  through  the 
gateway  that  leads  to  liberty  and  utter  bliss.  The 
bodhisat  may  be  said  to  possess  in  a  supreme 
degree  both  the  xPr)(TT°T)i$  and  the  ayaOao-vvJi  of  the 
New  Testament — selfless  benevolence  as  well  as 
active  goodness.  He  has  solemnly  dedicated  him 
self  to  the  service  of  all  beings  who  stand  in  need 
of  succour ;  and  his  infinite  charity  and  compassion 
are  such  that  he  will  suffer  the  most  atrocious 
torments  for  aeons  of  time — that  is,  through  count 
less  successive  re-births — if  thereby  he  may  save 
souls  from  pain.  "  I  wish,"  he  says,  "to  be  food 
for  the  hungry,  drink  for  the  thirsty."  He  would 


iv.]  SELFLESSNESS  69 

fain  become  "  a  soother  of  all  the  sorrows  of  all 
creatures."  He  would  be  "a  balm  to  the  sick, 
their  healer  and  servitor,  until  sickness  come  never 
again."  He  utterly  resigns  all  thoughts  of  self. 
"  My  own  being  and  my  pleasures,  all  my  righteous 
ness  in  the  past,  present,  and  future,  I  surrender 
indifferently,  that  all  creatures  may  win  to  their 
end."1  He  would  even  commit  sin,  and  take  upon 
himself  the  inevitable  consequences  of  sin,  if  by  so 
doing  he  could  alleviate  the  present  or  future 
sufferings  of  another.  "  It  matters  little  if  I  am 
condemned  to  hell,"  he  says,  "  if  only  I  may  save 
this  sinner  or  assuage  the  misery  of  that  suffering 
soul." 

Mahayanist  literature  contains  many  fanciful 
stories — analogous  to  the  legends  of  the  Christian 
saints — which  are  intended  to  illustrate  the  self- 
sacrificing  activity  of  those  who  have  taken 
the  vows  of  a  bodhisat.  One  of  these  legends 
tells  us  of  a  monk  who  came,  with  begging-bowl 
in  hand,  to  the  house  of  a  certain  rich  man. 
While  he  was  waiting  at  the  entrance  he  saw 
a  tame  goose  enter  the  house  and  swallow  a 
beautiful  jewel.  Of  this  incident  the  monk  was 
sole  witness.  When  the  lord  of  the  house 
entered  the  room  he  noticed  that  the  jewel  had 
vanished,  and  promptly  assumed  that  the  monk 
was  the  thief.  Greatly  enraged,  he  fell  upon 
him  with  blows  and  curses.  The  monk  endured 

1  The  Bodhicharydvatara   of   Santi-Deva,  trans,  by  L.  D.  Barnett 
(The  Path  of  Light,  p.  45  :    Wisdom  of  the  East  series). 


70  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

his  castigation  with  patience  and  in  silence,  when 
suddenly  a  servant  appeared  and  reported  the 
sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  the  goose. 
"  Beat  me  no  more ! "  said  the  monk.  "  I 
saw  the  goose  swallow  the  jewel."  "  Why  did 
you  not  tell  me  that  at  once  ? "  asked  the 
astonished  master.  "  I  was  afraid  that  the  goose 
would  be  killed,"  replied  the  monk.  "  Now  it  is 
dead  I  am  free  to  speak."1 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  such  stories 
as  these  are  not  supposed  to  be  taken  too  literally. 
They  are  fables,  told  for  purposes  of  edification. 
The  good  Catholic  is  not  expected  to  regulate 
his  daily  life  in  accordance  with  the  ascetic  prac 
tices  of  an  Antony  or  a  Suso ;  nor  is  the  good 
Buddhist  expected  to  conduct  himself  as  though 
the  interests  of  mankind  were  subordinate  to 
those  of  dumb  animals. 

The  Mahayanist  ideal  of  the  bodhisat — who 
devotes  himself,  with  utter  disregard  of  his  own 
interests,  to  the  service  of  others — certainly  seems, 
at  first  sight,  to  be  a  loftier  ideal  than  that  of  the 
Hinayanist  arahant,  who  apparently  has  no  higher 

1  I  am  unable  to  assign  a  date  to  the  first  appearance  of  this 
Chinese  story,  which  occurs  in  a  commentary  on  the  Fo-i-chiao-ching. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  another  version  of  the  story  is  to  be  found  in 
Arabic  literature  of  the  eighth  century  of  our  era.  There  we  read  of 
two  Mohammedan  "  sceptics"  who  were  unjustly  accused  of  having 
stolen  certain  gems.  It  was  known  to  the  supposed  culprits  that  the 
gems  had  been  swallowed  by  an  ostrich,  and  had  they  informed  their 
accusers  of  this  fact  they  would  have  escaped  a  flogging  that  nearly 
cost  them  their  lives  ;  but  rather  than  make  a  statement  which  would 
endanger  the  life  of  the  ostrich  they  preferred  to  suffer  innocently  in 
its  place  (E.R.E.,  ii.  189). 


iv.]  ARAHANTSHIP  71 

aim  in  view  than  his  own  salvation ;  and  if  this 
conception  of  the  relative  ethical  positions  of  the 
two  systems  is  the  true  one,  we  shall  be  obliged 
to  admit  the  justice  of  the  claim  of  the  Mahayanists 
that  their  system  is  the  nobler  of  the  two.  But 
the  matter  is  not  to  be  disposed  of  so  easily.  In 
the  first  place,  we  must  take  note  of  the  fact 
that  the  theory  of  bodhisatship  is  not  peculiar 
to  the  Great  Vehicle.  In  the  Hmayana,  bodhisat 
ship  is  recognized  as  the  state  which  immediately 
precedes  the  attainment  of  Buddhahood.  Gotama 
himself  is  represented  as  having  been  a  bodhisat 
up  to  the  moment  when,  under  the  sacred  Bo- 
tree,  he  became  the  "  Awakened  One."  In  the 
second  place,  no  adherent  of  canonical  Buddhism 
would  admit  that  an  arahant  is  entirely  occupied 
with  his  own  salvation  and  is  careless  of  the 
interests  of  his  fellow-men.  On  the  contrary, 
the  ideal  of  universal  love  and  benevolence  is 
inculcated  in  the  canonical  books  in  many 
beautiful  and  striking  passages  which  unquestion 
ably  enshrine  the  authentic  message  of  primitive 
Buddhism.1  Arahantship  is  "  the  state  of  one 
who  possesses  worthiness  "  —worthiness  of  a  kind 

1  In  a  recent  translation  of  the  Dhammapada  (The  Buddha's 
Way  of  Virtue,  Wisdom  of  the  East  series,  1912)  the  following 
version  of  ch.  xii.  verse  166  appears  on  p.  45  :  "  Even  for  great 
benefit  to  another  let  no  man  imperil  his  own  henefit.  When  he  has 
realized  what  is  for  his  own  good,  let  him  pursue  that  earnestly."  If 
this  were  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  original  Pali,  and  if  the 
text  as  thus  rendered  were  in  accordance  with  the  ethics  of  Buddhism, 
some  of  the  strictures  of  the  Mahayanists  would  be  fully  justified.  But 
I  strongly  suspect  that  the  translators  have  misapprehended  the  true 
meaning  of  this  passage.  Max  Miiller  (S.B.E.,  x.  46)  observes 


72  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

that  cannot  be  reconciled  with  any  form  of 
selfishness. 

"Even  as  a  mother  watcheth  over  her  only 
child,"  says  the  Sutta-Nipdtd  "so  let  our  hearts 
and  minds  be  filled  with  boundless  love  for  all 
creatures,  great  and  small ;  let  us  practise  bene 
volence  towards  the  whole  world,  and  let  us  set 
ourselves  utterly  free  from  all  ill-will  and  enmity." 

Elsewhere  we   read   that 

"all  the  means  that  can  be  used  as  bases  for 
doing  right  are  not  worth  one  -  sixteenth  part  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  heart  through  love. 
That  takes  all  those  up  into  itself,  outshining 
them  in  radiance  and  in  glory."  l 

Of  all  the  passages  in  which  Buddha  is 
represented  as  having  taught  the  duty  of  charity, 

that  attha  (lit.  "object")  must  here  be  taken  in  a  moral  sense,  "as 
f  duty '  rather  than  as  '  advantage.'  "  He  therefore  translates  :  ( '  let  no 
one  forget  his  own  duty  for  the  sake  of  another's,  however  great ;  let  a 
man,  after  he  has  discerned  his  own  duty,  be  always  attentive  to  his 
duty."  It  may  be  observed  that  all  the  various  Chinese  versions  of  the 
Dhammapada  seem  to  have  been  made  from  texts  which  are  not  now  in 
existence.  The  passage  now  under  discussion  is  not  exactly  paralleled 
in  any  of  the  Chinese  versions  ;  but  none  of  the  Chinese  passages 
which  may  be  said  to  correspond  to  it  can  be  made  to  bear  the 
meaning  ascribed  to  it  in  The  Buddha's  Path  of  Virtue.  (For  the 
Chinese  books  which  correspond  to  the  Dhammapada,  see  Har.  xxiv. 
vols.  v.  and  vi.  [B.N.  1321,  1353,  1365,  1439]).  According  to  the  true 
canonical  doctrine,  the  Buddhist  seeks  his  own  good,  but  is  also 
bound  to  seek  the  good  of  others.  (  Ubkinnam  attham  carati  ;  attano  ca 
parassa  ca,  quoted  by  Mrs  Rhys  Davids,  Buddhism,  p.  121.) 

1  The  Iti-vuttaka,  19.  The  translation  is  by  Mrs  Rhys  Davids, 
op.  cit.,  p.  229.  Cf.  also  her  remark  on  p.  243:  ' '  The  Buddha  who 
devotes  his  life  to  helping  mankind  was  termed,  not  Saviour,  but 
Omniscient  (sabbafmu)  Buddha,  To  understand  all,  says  a  French 
epigram,  is  to  forgive  all.  The  Buddhist  goes  further  ;  to  understand 
all,  is  not  only  to  forgive,  but  to  give — to  give  one's  self  through 
insight  into  other's  need."  Cf.  also  E.R.E.,  v.  234. 


iv.]  ALTRUISM   AND  EGOISM  73 

perhaps  the  most  interesting  to  Western  readers 
is  that  in  which  he  chides  his  disciples  for 
neglecting  to  tend  the  sick.  He  closes  his 
remarks  with  words  which  a  French  Catholic 
scholar  describes  as  vraiment  remarquables : l  "  If 
there  be  one  of  you  who  would  wish  to  cherish 
me,  let  him  go  and  cherish  his  sick  comrade."2 

In  finding  fault  with  the  Hmayanist  ideal, 
the  Mahayanist  failed  to  realize  that  a  selfish  being 
could  not  become  an  arahant.  Arahantship,  as 
we  have  seen,  consisted  in  a  spiritual  exaltation 
which  transcended  the  limitations  of  temporal 
individuality.  In  what  intelligible  sense  can  a 
system  which  aims  at  the  elimination  of  the 
phenomenal  ego  be  described  as  egoistic?  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  the  candidate  for  arahantship 
strove  for  the  full  realization  of  what  we  must 
call  his  transcendental  self;  but  self-realization  in 
the  highest  sense  is  far  removed  from  selfishness, 
and,  indeed,  it  necessarily  involves  self-sacrifice. 
The  arahant  could  not  have  reached  full  spiritual 
development  if  he  had  failed  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  that  each  man  forms  part  of  a 
spiritual  whole  of  which  all  his  fellow-men  are  also 
parts,  and  that  to  serve  them  is  to  enrich,  while  to 
neglect  them  is  to  impoverish,  his  own  higher  self. 
Whether  it  is  possible  to  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  between  altruism  and  egoism  is  a 


1  L.  de  la  V.  Poussin,  Bouddhisme,  1909,,  p.  7. 

2  Of.  Matthew  xxv.  40;  and  Al  Ghazzali  (T-$e  Alchemy  of  Happiness : 
Wisdom  of  the  East  series),  p.  104. 


74  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

question  which  is  still  debated  by  Western 
philosophers.  Herbert  Spencer  called  it  "the 
crux  of  all  ethical  speculation."  We  are  assured 
by  some  that  the  altruistic  and  egoistic  tendencies 
of  human  nature  are  "  divergent  developments 
from  the  common  psychological  root  of  primitive 
ethical  sentiment,"  that  both  are  unavoidable, 
and  that  they  are  ultimately  irreconcilable.  No 
higher  category  can  be  discovered,  we  are  told, 
whereby  "  their  rival  claims  may  be  finally 
adjusted." l  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  thinkers 
who  argue  eloquently  in  favour  of  the  opposite 
and  far  more  cheering  view  that 

"  there  is  no  self-expenditure  without  self-enrich 
ment,  no  self-enrichment  without  self- expenditure. 
The  ideals  of  self-culture  and  self-sacrifice,  so  far 
from  being  hopelessly  contradictory,  are  inseparable, 
and  unrealizable  except  as  two  aspects  of  the  same 
process." 

This,  we  may  assume,  is  the  view  of  twentieth- 
century  Christianity — at  any  rate,  it  is  that  of 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  writers  and  thinkers  in 
the  Church  of  England  to-day.  Very  similar  was 
the  belief  of  some  of  the  old  Roman  philosophers. 
The  Stoics,  we  are  reminded  by  a  recent  authority, 
conceived  an  ideal  of  self-realization  or  self- culture 
which 

"  was  not  and  could  not  possibly  be  purely  selfish  or 
self-regarding,  just  because  the  self  which  the  Stoic 

1  A.  E.  Taylor,  Problem  of  Conduct,  1901,  p.  183. 

2  Dr  W.  R,  Inge,  Personal  Idealism  and  Mysticism,  1907,  p.  105. 


iv.]  SELF-RENUNCIATION  75 

endeavours  to  realize  is  essentially  the  universal, 
and  not  what  we  should  call  the  individual  self 
at  all."1 

That  self-advancement  and  social  service,  or 
— if  we  prefer  the  extreme  terms — egoism  and 
altruism,  are  not  eternally  opposed  to  one  another, 
but  are  ultimately  reconcilable,  is  the  view  which 
seems  destined  to  prevail.2  This  being  so,  it  is 
perhaps  regrettable  that  those  Buddhists  who  were 
dissatisfied  with  what  they  took  to  be  the  narrow 
ness  and  selfishness  of  the  ideal  of  arahantship 
did  not  content  themselves  with  giving  it  a  new 
and  higher  interpretation  in  the  light  of  what 
they  believed  to  be  their  own  loftier  conception 
of  ethical  values.  Instead  of  doing  this,  they 
set  it  aside  as  morally  contemptible,  and  replaced 
it  by  a  new  ideal  of  utter  self-renunciation.  The 
virtuous  man  was  no  longer  to  aim  at  arahantship, 
but  at  bodhisatship  —  that  is  to  say,  he  was  to 
purge  himself  from  the  slightest  taint  of  self- 
love  or  self-regarding  interest,  to  devote  himself, 

1  James  Adam,  The  Vitality  of  Platonism,  1911,  p.  141. 

2  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  refer  to  the  familiar  speculations  of  such 
writers  as   Comte,   Schopenhauer,  Herbert  Spencer,   and   Sir  Leslie 
Stephen  (Science  of  Ethics}  on  this  subject.     A  more  recent  work  by 
Delvolve  (Rationalisme  et  Tradition)  contains  some  brilliant  suggestions  ; 
and  the  following  remarks  by  James  Ward  in  his  Realm  of  Ends  (1911) 
are  significant:    "Extreme  as  the  selfishness  of  many  may  still  be, 
and  rare  as  is  any  whole-hearted  enthusiasm  for  humanity,  yet  the 
progress  already  made  is  amply  sufficient  to  show  that  the  direction  in 
which  it  has  moved  and  is  still  moving  points  towards  the  ultimate 
conciliation  of  self-interest  and  the  common  good.     This  progress  may 
seem  small,  partly  because  to  us  the  time  it  has  taken  looks  immense, 
and  partly  because  it  still  falls  indefinitely  short  of  the  ideal  that  we 
entertain  "  (p.  133). 


76  IDEALS  OF  HlNAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

without  the  faintest  thought  of  reward,  to  the 
service  of  all  creatures,  to  sacrifice  on  behalf  of 
others  all  personal  ambitions,  hopes,  and  desires, 
and  to  extend  boundless  sympathy  and  measure 
less  love  to  all  suffering  beings. 

The  new  ideal  was  a  sublime  one,  but  it  was 
not  without  its  practical  disadvantages ;  and  it 
necessarily  produced  momentous  changes  in  the 
moral  and  religious  outlook  of  the  zealous 
Buddhist.  The  activities  of  the  would-be  arahant, 
however  arduous  they  might  be,  were  nevertheless 
believed  to  be  within  the  scope  of  every  man 
of  properly  disciplined  will;  arahantship,  that  is 
to  say,  was  rooted  in  normal  human  nature,  and 
therefore  had  an  abiding  ethical  significance  for 
ordinary  humanity.  The  bodhisat,  on  the  contrary, 
tended  to  draw  ever  farther  and  farther  away 
from  the  world  of  mankind.  "  A  being  capable 
of  purely  altruistic  actions  alone,"  as  Nietzsche 
said,  "  is  more  fabulous  than  the  Phoenix."  It 
is  true  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  Mahayana 
the  title  of  bodhisat  was  bestowed  upon  many 
saints  of  the  Church  who  were  known  to  have 
lived  on  earth  as  human  beings,  exceptional 
only  in  respect  of  learning  and  sanctity ;  and 
even  at  the  present  time  the  vows  of  a  bodhisat 
are  taken  every  year  by  scores  of  newly-ordained 
monks,  who  thereafter  (at  least  in  China)  are 
respectfully  addressed  by  their  disciples  and 
novices  as  ta-pusa  ("great  bodhisat").  But  the 
speculative  fancy  of  the  Mahayanist  creed-makers 


iv.]  THE   CELESTIAL   BODHISATS  77 

very  soon  created  a  broad  line  of  demarcation 
between  those  humble  persons  who  were  merely 
stumbling  along  the  stony  paths  of  the  preliminary 
stages  of  bodhisatship,  and  those  serene  and 
majestic  beings,  the  bodhisattvas  mahasattva,1 
incalculable  in  number,  who,  having  employed 
themselves  for  immeasurable  ages  in  the  merciful 
work  of  bringing  suffering  souls  to  salvation, 
were  now  invisible  to  mankind  (except  on  the 
rare  occasions  when  they  incarnated  themselves 
in  human  form),  and  were  in  direct  personal 
communion  with  the  supreme  Buddhas.  These 
great  bodhisats,  exalted  far  above  ordinary 
humanity,  gradually  came  to  be  regarded  as 
partakers  of  the  super  celestial  nature  of  the 
Buddhas  themselves ;  indeed,  in  the  view  of 
some  of  the  mystical  schools  of  the  later 
Mahayanists,  all  the  Buddhas  and  all  the  bodhi 
sattvas  find  ultimate  unification  in  the  Dharmakaya 
or  Absolute  One.2 


1  The  Chinese  pusa  maha-sa. 

2  The  Dharmakaya  is  literally  ' c  Body  of  the  Law,"  as  distinct  from 
Sambhogakiiya  —  the   supramundane    Body   of  Bliss,    in    which    the 
Buddhas  appear  to  the  eyes  of  the  saints,   and   Nirmanakaya — the 
Illusory  Body,  in  which  the  Buddhas  appear  to  the  eyes  of  men. 
A  full  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trikaya  or  Three-fold  Body 
of  Buddha  cannot  be  attempted  here.     The   reader   is   referred  to 
L.     de    la    Vallee    Poussin's     contributions     to    Hastings'     E.R.E., 
and  to  his  article  in  J.R.A.8.,  1906,  pp.  943  ff;  and  also  to  Suzuki's 
Outlines  of  Mahdydna  Buddhism.    In  connection  with  the  Nirmanakaya, 
it   may  be  noted  that  docetic  tendencies  made  their  appearance  in 
Buddhist  speculation  at  an  early  date,   especially   in   the   teachings 
of    the  heterodox    or    semi  -  Mahay aiiist    Mahusanghika   school    (see 
Anesaki's  article  on  "Docetism"  (Buddhist)  in  E.R.E.,  iv.  835  /; 
and  L.  de  la  Vallee  Poussiu,  Bouddhiwne,  p.  259). 


78  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

Thus  the  human  characteristics  of  the  great 
bodhisats  gradually  disappeared  in  a  blaze  of 
celestial  glory.  From  the  twilight  of  mere 
humanity  they  emerged  into  the  radiance  of 
divinity.  From  being  heroes  among  men  they 
became  the  divine  companions,  and  practically 
the  equals,  of  the  deified  Buddhas.1  Already  in 
the  first  century  of  our  era,  and  perhaps  earlier, 
the  bodhisats  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  divine 
beings  to  be  worshipped,  rather  than  as  supermen 
to  be  respected  and  imitated.  Later  dogmatic 
developments  were  associated  with  the  idea  of 
salvation  by  faith.  According  to  the  tenets  of 
certain  Mahay  anist  schools  which  to-day  enjoy 
greater  prosperity  and  influence  than  any  others 
in  China  and  Japan,2  the  Buddhist  who  wishes 
to  qualify  for  salvation  need  do  no  more  than 
cultivate  in  himself  an  attitude  of  unquestioning 
faith  in  a  divine  saviour — a  celestial  bodhisat — 
who  will  receive  his  soul  and  conduct  it  to  a 
blissful  home  in  Paradise.  The  accumulated 
merits  of  the  bodhisats  are  supposed  to  be  so 
superabundant  that  each  bodhisat  is  able  to 
transfer  immeasurable  quantities  of  surplus  merit 
to  the  account  of  sinful  men,  whose  salvation  is 
thus  due  not  to  any  works  or  merit  of  their 
own,  but  solely  to  the  merit  transferred  to  them 

1  In  Nepalese  Buddhism  there  is  a  tendency  for  the  bodhisats  to  be 
elevated  to  a  position  even   more   exalted   than   that   of  the   divine 
Buddhas — "bearing  the  same  relation  to  the  Buddhas  as  Sakyamuni 
bore  to  the  arahants"  (L.  dela  V.  Poussin,  E.R.E.,  i.  96). 

2  See  above,  pp.  56,  60^'.,  65  ;  and  below,  pp.  1)2  j}\ 


iv.]  THE   TWO   VEHICLES  79 

by  the  bodhisat  who  has  endowed  them  with 
his  saving  grace.  This  theory  of  diverted  merit, 
which  nullifies  the  old  law  of  retribution  and 
directly  contradicts  Buddha's  own  teaching  that 
each  man  must  work  out  his  own  salvation,  is 
one  of  the  few  Mahayanist  doctrines  which  are 
not  traceable  to  any  source  in  primitive  Buddhism.1 
In  such  forms  of  Buddhism  as  these,  of  which 
more  remains  to  be  said  in  succeeding  chapters, 
there  is  an  obvious  tendency  for  morality  to  be 
subordinated  to  faith ;  and  Buddhism,  if  it 
becomes  more  of  a  religion  —  as  the  term  is 
commonly  understood  —  is  apt  to  become  less 
effective  as  a  practical  guide  of  life. 

Yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  ignore  the  great 
beauty  of  many  of  the  religious  imaginings  of 
the  Mahayanists  and  the  splendour  of  many  of 
their  conceptions.  More  catholic  in  its  sympathies 
and  interests  than  the  older  system,  more  accom 
modating  to  the  weaknesses  of  human  nature, 
less  rationalistic  in  its  ethic,  the  Mahayana 

1  The  doctrine  is  practically  identical  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
teaching  concerning  the  theory  of  indulgences.  The  "virtue  of 
indulgences/'  says  a  Catholic  writer,  "outflows  from  the  infinite 
merits"  of  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  the  Saints,  "whose  merits, 
heing  superfluous  in  their  own  offering  of  the  satisfaction  due  to  divine 
justice,  have  remained  in  the  spiritual  arid  common  treasury  of  the 
Church  "  (Philip  Hold's  Catholic  Doctrine  and  Discipline  (London,  1896) 
p.  257).  This  theory  of  the  "  Treasure  of  the  Church  "  (which  consists 
primarily  of  the  "  merit  and  satisfaction  "  of  Christ,  but  includes  also 
' '  the  superfluous  merit  and  satisfaction  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the 
Saints")  represents  a  comparatively  late  development  of  Catholic 
doctrine.  It  was  not  confirmed  by  the  Pope  (Clement  VI.)  till  1350, 
though  it  appeared  more  than  a  century  earlier  in  the  Summa,  Theologiae 
of  "  the  Irrefragable  Doctor,"  Alexander  Halensis,  an  Englishman. 


80  IDEALS  OF  HINAYANA  AND  MAHAYANA  [CH. 

undoubtedly  owed  much  of  its  success  to  the  fact 
that  it  could  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the  religious 
emotions.  In  charging  the  arahant  with  being 
over-mindful  of  his  own  development  and  salvation 
and  with  ignoring  the  moral  and  spiritual  condition 
of  his  fellow-men,  the  Mahay  anists  were  hardly 
fair.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  ethical 
content  of  the  ideal  of  arahantship  was  peculiarly 
liable,  from  its  nature,  to  suffer  from  undue  com 
pression  or  distortion  in  times  of  moral  stagnation 
or  decay.  Like  all  other  systems  of  self-culture 
and  self-discipline,  the  way  of  arahantship,  though 
well  worthy  of  being  trodden  by  the  most 
magnanimous  of  saints,  was  nevertheless  one 
which  could  be  usurped  by  ignoble  adventurers 
and  made  to  subserve  the  unholy  purposes  of  a 
mean-spirited  selfishness.  Perhaps  both  Hinayana 
and  Mahayana  were  perilously  liable  to  be 
exploited  by  extremists — the  one  system,  under 
unfavourable  conditions,  might  seem  to  sanction 
the  exaltation  of  an  ideal  of  glorified  selfishness  ; 
the  other  set  up  an  ideal  of  altruism  which  could 
never  be  realized  under  earthly  conditions.  On 
the  whole,  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the 
Mahayanists  would  have  deserved  greater  honour 
than  they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
moralists  of  later  ages,  if  instead  of  unjustly 
denouncing  arahantship  as  essentially  selfish,  they 
had  resolutely  set  themselves  to  solve  one  of 
the  most  important  and  perplexing  of  all  moral 
problems  by  showing  us  how  the  two  ideals  of 


iv.]       SELF-CULTURE   AND  SELF-SACRIFICE       81 

arahantship  and  bodhisatship  —  in  other  words, 
self-culture  and  self-sacrifice — might  be  reconciled 
and  made  one.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see  the 
lines  on  which  such  a  reconciliation  might  take 
place.  The  arahant  is  one  who  has  aimed  at 
and  has  attained  self  -  realization,  whereas  in 
bodhisatship  all  considerations  of  self  are  utterly 
quenched  and  destroyed.  The  difference  seems 
immeasurable ;  but  if  we  are  careful  to  remember 
the  distinction  which  Buddhism  draws  between 
the  false  personality  and  the  true — between  the 
impermanent  ego  and  the  transcendental  self- 
may  we  not  say,  after  all,  that  the  two  ideals 
are  essentially  the  same  ? 


CHAPTER   V 

BUDDHIST    SCHOOLS    AND    SECTS    IN    CHINA 

To  follow  the  varied  fortunes  of  the  numerous 
Mahayanist  sects  that  have  flourished  on  Chinese 
soil  is  a  task  which  we  may  well  leave  to  the 
religious  historian.  We,  as  mere  pilgrims  in  the 
Buddhist  China  of  to-day,  must  content  ourselves 
with  little  more  than  some  general  knowledge  of 
the  Buddhism  that  enters  into  the  lives  of  the 
religious  laity  at  the  present  time  and  the  Buddhism 
that  is  professed  in  the  great  mountain-monasteries. 

The  lines  of  sectarian  demarcation  are  now 
almost  obliterated — or  perhaps  it  would  be  truer  to 
say  that  the  great  Dhyana  (Chinese  Ch'an)  school 
has  so  extended  its  boundaries  that  in  Buddhist 
China  (or  at  least  in  Chinese  monastic  Buddhism) 
there  is  comparatively  little  territory  left  for  it  to 
conquer.  It  should  be  observed,  however,  that 
in  some  respects  the  victory  of  the  Ch'an  school 
has  been  more  apparent  than  real.  It  was  not 
the  Ch'an  alone,  but  rather  the  Ch'an  in  alliance 
with  the  Amidist  schools,1  that  victoriously 
encroached  upon  the  territories  of  its  rivals. 

The  Ch'an  doctrines  are  supposed  to  be  trace- 

1  Seep?.  92 /. 
82 


CH.  v.]  BODHIDHARMA  83 

able  to  Buddha  himself,  and  to  have  been  handed 
down  through  twenty-eight  patriarchs,  of  whom 
(as  we  saw  in  an  earlier  chapter1)  Asvaghosha 
was  the  twelfth,  Nagarjuna  the  fourteenth,  and 
Bodhidharma  the  twenty-eighth.  The  last-named 
(P'u-t'i-ta-mo  in  Chinese,  usually  shortened  to 
Tamo]  arrived  in  China  in  the  year  520,  and  seems 
to  have  died  about  nine  years  later.  His  Chinese 
home  was  the  famous  monastery  of  Shao-lin,  situated 
at  the  base  of  the  Shao-shih  mountain,  near  Loyang, 
in  the  province  of  Honan.  This  monastery,  which 
was  founded  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  fifth  century 
of  our  era,  is  still  the  beautiful  habitation  of  a 
group  of  Buddhist  monks,  but  its  once  splendid 
buildings  are  now  to  a  great  extent  ruinous.  One 
of  its  greatest  treasures  is  the  stone  in  front  of 
which  Tamo  is  said  to  have  sat  in  silent  medita 
tion.  It  is  this  Indian  sage,  this  searcher  of  hearts 
and  scorner  of  books,  who  is  regarded  as  the 
founder,  in  China,  of  the  Ch'an  or  Contemplative 
school  of  Buddhism.  "  You  will  not  find  Buddha 
in  images  or  books,"  was  the  teaching  of  the 
venerable  Tamo.  "  Look  into  your  own  heart : 
that  is  where  you  will  find  Buddha." 

The  Chinese  word  for  "heart,"  it  should  be 
noted,  has  a  very  complex  significance,  and  we 
often  come  across  religious  or  philosophical  passages 
in  which  the  word  might  more  appropriately, 
though  even  then  inadequately,  be  rendered  by 
"mind.":  The  Chinese  term  is  hsin,  and  this  may 

1  See  above,  pp.  29-32.  »  Cf.  E.  Underbill,  Mysticism,  p.  85. 


84  SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

be  regarded  as  the  key-word  of  the  Ch'an  Buddhism 
which  has  for  many  centuries  dominated  Chinese 
religious  thought.  In  reading  the  lives  of  the 
great  Ch'an  patriarchs  and  abbots  we  frequently 
meet  with  the  curious  expression  shou  hsin  yin— 
"  to  transmit,  or  to  receive,  the  seals  of  the  heart." 
This  expression  is  used  to  denote  what  we  might 
describe  as  the  apostolical  succession.  Just  as  a 
civil  magistrate  when  vacating  his  post  hands  over 
the  tangible  and  material  seals  of  office  to  the  official 
who  is  to  succeed  him,  so  the  Ch'an  abbot  when 
about  to  die  transmits  to  his  successor  in  religion 
the  intangible  and  spiritual  "  seals  of  the  heart." 

Tamo's  system  has  been  described  as  "the 
Buddhist  counterpart  of  the  Spiritual  Exercises 
of  St  Ignatius  Loyola " ; l  but  there  are  other 
Christian  saints  and  mystics  with  whom  he  may  be 
compared  even  more  fittingly.  Tamo  would  have 
heartily  approved  of  that  reply  which  St  Francis 
of  Assisi  is  said  to  have  given  to  a  monk  who 
asked  if  he  might  be  allowed  to  possess  a  psalter — 

"  Man  can  learn  nothing  but  what  he  already 
knows.  If  to-day  thou  gettest  a  psalter,  to 
morrow  thou  wilt  want  a  breviary,  and  thou  wilt 
end  by  sitting  in  thy  chair  like  any  prelate  and 
saying,  '  Hand  me  my  breviary.' ' 

No  less  readily  would  Tamo  have  welcomed  a 
kindred  spirit  in  St  Paul,  who  rejected  "  tablets  of 
stone"  in  favour  of  "the  fleshy  tablets  of  the 
heart " ;  or  in  St  Augustine,  who,  in  words  which 

1  Lloyd,  Wheat  among  the  Tares,  p.  53, 


BODHIDHARMA. 

(TAMO.) 

From  a  rubbing  from  a  Ming  Dynasty  stone  tablet  (dated  1624)  in  the  Shaolin 
Monastery,  Honan. 

(The  original  figure  from  which  this  is  reduced  is  4  //.  5  in.  in  height.} 

{Facing  6.  84. 


v.]  MYSTICISM  IN   EAST   AND  WEST  85 

contain  the  essence  of  Tamo's  own  teaching,  bade 
men  look  for  truth  in  the  depths  of  their  own  being : 
In  te  ipsum  redi :  in  interior c  hominc  habitat  veritas. 
The  same  thought  recurs  in  Richard  of  St  Victor's 
utterance :  "If  thou  wishest  to  search  out  the 
deep  things  of  God,  search  out  the  depths  of  thine 
own  spirit."1  Similarly  spoke  Hugo:  "The  way 
to  ascend  to  God  is  to  descend  into  oneself." 
Allowing  for  differences  in  terminology,  this 
teaching  harmonizes  with  the  spirit  that  animates 
the  contemplative  school  of  Buddhism,  as  well 
as  it  harmonizes  with  the  spirit  of  mystical 
Christianity.2  "  Sink  into  thyself  and  thou  wilt 
find  Him,"  says  Eckhart.  Find  whom  ?  Christ. 
"  Sink  into  thyself  and  thou  wilt  find  Him,"  says 
Bodhidharma.  Find  whom  ?  Buddha. 

Perhaps  the  "  heart "  theory  of  Tamo  and 
his  school  is  not  quite  so  satisfactory  as  they 
imagined.  It  may  be  that  a  better  knowledge 
of  truth  has  been  gained  by  looking  outward  at 
nature  than  by  looking  inward  at  one's  own 
"  heart " ;  or  it  may  be  that  the  most  successful 
truthseeker  combines  both  methods  —  methods 
which  we  Europeans  may  perhaps  conveniently 
label  as  Platonic  and  Aristotelian.  However  this 
may  be,  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  China  the 
results  of  Tamo's  teachings  have  been  both  good 
and  bad.  On  the  one  hand  they  are  partially 
responsible  for  the  decay  of  learning  in  the  Chinese 

1  Gf.  Dr  W.   Sanday's  much-criticized  theory  that  Jesus's   "sub 
liminal  self"  was  the  seat  of  his  divinity  or  the  medium  through  which 
he  achieved  oneness  with  the  divine. 

2  Cf.  E.  Underbill,  Mysticism,  pp.  56,  97,  103,  222-3. 


86  SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

monasteries.  Tamo's  advice  was  taken  too  literally. 
Books  were  neglected,  and  monkish  energy  con 
centrated  itself  on  ecstatic  meditation.  In  many 
cases  religious  zeal  died  away  for  want  of  sub 
stantial  nourishment,  and  there  is  reason  to  suspect 
that  some  of  the  monks  who  believed  themselves 
to  have  attained  the  exalted  state  of  mystical  union 
were  apt  to  confuse  that  state  with  the  less  honour 
able  condition  of  physical  somnolence.1  On  the 
other  hand,  the  influence  of  Tamo  and  his  suc 
cessors  undoubtedly  tended  to  save  Chinese 
Buddhism  from  the  evils  of  priestcraft  and 
"  clericalism  "  and  from  a  slavish  worship  of  images 
and  relics,  dogmas,  and  sacred  books.  The  great 
sutras  of  the  Mahay  ana  are,  indeed,  held  in  deep 
reverence  by  all  Chinese  Buddhists,  and  images 
are  to  be  found  in  all  Buddhist  temples — including 
the  gorgeous  chapels  attached  to  the  great  Ch'an 
monasteries  ;  but  these  things  are  not  regarded 
as  ultimate  objects  of  religious  reverence  except 
by  those  to  whom  spiritual  religion  is  an  unattain 
able  experience.  There  are  monks  in  China  to-day 
who  would  not  be  sorry  to  see  the  temples  cleared 
of  every  image  that  they  contain;  and  there  are 
many  others  who  would  plead  for  the  retention 
of  the  images  only  for  the  sake  of  those  simple- 
minded  and  unenlightened  souls  who  cling  to 
the  material  symbol  because  the  truth  that  it 
symbolises  is  beyond  their  grasp. 

The  patriarch  Tamo  was  succeeded  by  Hui-k'o 

1  Of.  E.  Underbill,  op,  cit.,  p.  385. 


v.]  BUDDHIST   SUBDIVISIONS  87 

(d.  593),  Seng-ts'an  (d.  606),  Tao-hsin  (d.  651), 
Hung-jen  (d.  675),  and  Hui-neng  (d.  713).1  Though 
the  patriarchate  is  usually  regarded  as  having  come 
to  an  end  with  the  death  of  Hui-neng,  the  sixth 
Chinese  patriarch,  this  does  not  imply  that  there 
was  any  cataclysm  in  Buddhist  fortunes  in  China 
at  this  time.  Both  before  and  after  the  eighth 
century  of  our  era  the  Buddhists  were,  indeed, 
subjected  to  spasmodic  and  sometimes  very  severe 
persecutions  at  the  hands  of  orthodox  Confucianism, 
but  the  Chinese  are  an  essentially  tolerant  people 
so  far  as  religious  beliefs,  as  such,  are  concerned, 
and  most  of  the  "persecutions"  would  scarcely  be 
regarded  as  deserving  of  so  disreputable  a  name 
if  they  had  taken  place  in  Western  Europe  instead 
of  Eastern  Asia.  The  subdivision  into  sects  which 
took  place  after  the  time  of  the  sixth  patriarch  was 
not  a  consequence  of  any  disruptive  forces  set  in 
motion  by  Confucianism,  but  was  due  rather  to 
the  growth  of  what  may  be  described  as  a  sort 
of  religious  individualism  within  the  pale  of 
Buddhism  itself,  and  to  the  fact  that  after  the 
death  of  Hui-neng  the  leading  Ch'an  Buddhists 
separated  into  two  branches — the  Northern  and  the 
Southern.  The  rivalry  between  the  Wu  Tsung 
— the  Five  Sects  that  regarded  Hui-neng  and  his 
predecessors  as  their  common  patriarchs — was  as 
a  rule  healthy  and  friendly,  and  it  was  not  till 


1  The  begging-bowl  of  Bodhidharma,  which  had  been  transmitted 
as  token  of  investiture  from  patriarch  to  patriarch,  is  said  to  have  been 
buried  with  Hui-neng. 


88  SCHOOLS  AND    SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

comparatively  recent  times  that  a  tendency 
towards  reunion  was  brought  about  by  the 
gradual  decay  of  learning  and  of  religious  fervour 
in  the  monasteries. 

The  first  and  greatest  of  the  Five  Sects  of  the 
Ch'an  school  was  and  is  the  Lin-chi  I  sung.1  The 
writers  of  this  school  trace  their  descent  from 
Hui-neng  through  Huai-jang,  who  was  one  of  the 
first  of  that  large  company  of  distinguished  monks 
who  made  their  home  on  the  Nan  Yo  or  Southern 
Sacred  Mountain,  in  the  province  of  Hunan. 
Huai-jang  is  sometimes  described  as  the  Seventh 
Patriarch,  and  came  to  be  regarded  by  his  disciples 
as  an  incarnation  of  the  great  bodhisat  Kuan-yin. 
He  died  in  744,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  patriarch 
Ma,  commonly  known  as  Tao-I  (d.  788) ;  by  Huai- 
hai  (d.  814) ;  by  Hsi-yim  (d.  about  850)  ;  and  finally 
by  I-hsiian  (d.  867).  It  was  from  the  name  of 
I-hsiian's  home  (Lin-chi)  that  the  sect  derived  the 
name  by  which  it  is  known  to  Buddhist  historians. 

The  remaining  four  sects  wTere  the  Hui-yang, 
the  Fa-yen,  the  Yun-men,  and  the  TVao-tung — 
all  of  which  may  be  said  to  have  come  into 
existence  (as  separate  sects)  in  the  tenth  century 
of  the  Christian  era.2  Of  their  patriarchs,  full 

1  Like  the  other  four  sects,  it  belongs  to  the  Southern  branch. 
The  Northern  soon  became  extinct. 

2  The  ordinary  Chinese  terms  for  ee  Buddhist  monk  "  are  ho-shang 
and  seny-jen.       Nowadays  the  first  of  these  is  the  term  generally  used 
by  laymen  and  in  ordinary  conversation  ;  the  second  is  chiefly  confined 
to  books.       At  one   time,  however,  when   the  principal  Ch'an  sects 
were  the  Lin-chi  and  the  Tsfao-tung,  ho-shang  was  applied  to  Lin-chi 
monks  and  scng  or  seng-jen  to  Ts'ao-tuug  monks. 


v.]  FAMOUS  RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  89 

information  is  given  us  in  the  various  compilations 
which  occupy  in  Buddhist  China  a  place  similar 
to  that  of  the  Ada  Sanctorum  in  Christendom. 
Emphasis  is  of  course  laid  by  the  monkish 
chroniclers  on  the  miracles  and  prodigies  associated 
with  their  heroes,  and  personal  peculiarities  are 
lovingly  depicted.  Of  Hui-chi  (Hui-yang  sect) 
we  are  told  that  from  boyhood  his  heart  had 
been  set  on  a  religious  life.  When  his  parents 
insisted  upon  his  marriage,  he  knelt  before  them 
and  implored  them  to  allow  him  to  enter  the 
monkhood.  He  got  his  own  way  after  he  had 
deliberately  broken  two  of  his  own  fingers  in 
token  of  his  sincerity.  Of  Tao-I's  personal 
appearance  strange  things  are  told.  His  secular 
name  was  Ma  ("  horse  "),  he  walked  like  an  ox, 
he  had  eyes  like  a  tiger's,  he  had  a  tongue  that 
reached  beyond  the  tip  of  his  nose,  and  a 
Buddhistic  wheel  (the  "wheel  of  the  law")  was 
imprinted  by  nature  on  the  soles  of  his  feet. 
One  of  the  most  famous  of  the  "  ancestors  "  of  the 
Ts'ao-tung  sect  was  Hsi-ch'ien  of  the  Rock,  who 
lived  as  a  recluse  on  the  Nan  Yo.  He  received 
titles  of  honour  not  only  from  the  Emperor  Te 
Tsung  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  in  whose  reign  he 
died  (790),  but  again  from  the  third  emperor  of 
the  late  Manchu  dynasty,  who  in  1734  conferred 
upon  him  the  posthumous  honorific  title  of 
Chih-hai  ("  Ocean  of  Wisdom  "). 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Wu  Tsung, 
or  Five  Sects,  are  all  subdivisions  of  the  Ch'an  or 


90  SCHOOLS  AND  SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

Meditation  school.  The  Ch'an  school,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  almost  coterminous  with  the  monastic 
Buddhism  of  the  China  of  to-day ;  but  other 
schools  have  flourished  in  the  past,  and  some  of 
them  have  not  wholly  ceased  to  exist  even  in  this 
twentieth  century.  One  of  the  most  famous  of 
these  schools — one  which  has  had  a  great  history 
in  Japan  as  well  as  in  China — is  the  T'ien-t'ai 
(Japanese  Tendai)  school,  which  founds  its 
dogmatic  system  on  the  well-known  Saddharma- 
pundarika-sutra.1  One  of  its  chief  Fathers  was  the 
venerable  Hui-wen,  of  the  Northern  Ch'i  dynasty, 
but  by  far  the  most  famous  was  Chih-i,  who  made 
his  home  amid  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  T'ien- 
t'ai  mountains  in  north-eastern  Chehkiang. 

Another  school  was  the  Hua-yen  Hsien-shou- 
chiao.  Its  favourite  sutra  was  the  Hua-yen-ching2 
— a  long  work  supposed  to  have  been  miraculously 
"  discovered "  by  the  patriarch  Nagarjuna.  The 
school  originated  with  a  very  distinguished 
"  imperial  teacher "  named  Tu-shun,  early  in  the 
T'ang  dynasty,  who  was  succeeded  in  turn  by 
Ylin-hua  and  Hsien-shou.  The  last-named  is  re 
garded  as  the  second  founder  of  the  school.  His  suc 
cessor,  Ch'eng-kuan,  was  a  voluminous  writer  who 
received  marks  of  distinction  from  seven  emperors. 
He  spent  most  of  his  life  on  the  mountain  of 
Wu-t'ai,  and  died  in  838  at  the  age  of  one  hundred. 

Yet  another  school  of  importance  was  the  Nan- 

1  For  English  translation,  see  S.B.E.,  vol.  xxi. 

2  Avatamsaka-sutra,  B.N.  87,  88 ;  Har.  i.  vols.  i.-iv.  vii.-ix. 


v.]  VINAYA  SCHOOL  91 

shan  Lii.  Nan-shan  is  the  Chung-nan  mountain, 
in  the  province  of  Shensi ;  and  Lu  is  the  Chinese 
word  which  stands  for  the  Sanskrit  "  Vinaya." 
The  Vinaya  is  that  division  of  the  Buddhist 
scriptures  which  treats  of  the  moral  codes  of 
Buddhism  and  the  disciplinary  rules  of  the  monk 
hood  ;  it  should  be  noted,  however,  that  each  of 
the  great  systems  of  Buddhism — the  Hinayana  and 
the  Mahay  ana — has  a  Vinaya  or  Lii  of  its  own. 
The  most  famous  representative  of  the  Chinese 
Mahayanist  Lti  school  was  a  monk  of  the  Chung- 
nan  mountain  named  Tao  Hsiian,  who  lived  in  the 
middle  of  the  seventh  century.  The  strongholds 
of  the  school  in  later  days  were  in  the  provinces  of 
Kiangsu  and  Chehkiang.  Chief  among  them  were 
the  monasteries  of  Ku-lin  (Nanking),  the  Pao-hua 
mountain,  and  Chao-ch'ing,  on  the  Western  Lake. 
In  the  eighth  century  the  Lii  school  established 
itself  in  Japan,  where,  under  the  name  of  the 
Ritsu-shu  it  took  its  place  among  the  twelve 
Buddhist  sects  of  that  country.  It  was  only  by 
slow  degrees  that  its  influence  and  prestige,  in 
both  China  and  Japan,  faded  away  before  the  ris 
ing  sun  of  the  Ch'an  and  Amidist  schools.  The 
rich  monasteries  of  Puto-shan1  were  among  the 
many  which  at  a  definite  date  in  their  history 
exchanged  the  Lii  teachings  for  the  Ch'an. 
The  school  seems  to  have  come  under  the 
suspicion  of  unduly  emphasizing  the  letter  and 
neglecting  the  spirit  of  Buddhism,  but  it  is 

1  See  chaps,  xi.-xiii. 


92  SCHOOLS  AND   SECTS  IN   CHINA  [CH. 

doubtful  whether  the  charge  was  a  just  one. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  the  Ltl  school  laid 
stress  on  "right  conduct,"  as  distinct  from  the 
Ch'an  school,  which  emphasized  "  right  thinking  " 
or  "  meditation  "  ;  l  arid  the  Ch'an  monks  were 
perhaps  not  far  wrong  in  arguing  that  "  right 
conduct  "  may  result  only  from  a  slavish  obedience 
to  a  written  code,  and  may  have  no  root  in  the 
mind;  whereas  "right  thinking  "-  —the  attainment 
of  a  correct  mental  attitude  —  almost  necessarily 
results  in  right  action. 

There  is  one  school  which  deserves  special 
attention,  not  only  because  it  occupies  a  position 
of  great  prominence  in  the  religious  systems  of 
both  China  and  Japan,  but  also  because  it  inculcates 
the  form  of  Buddhism  which  appeals  most  strongly 
to  the  Buddhist  layman.  This  is  the  Ching-t'u 
("  Pure  Land  ")  or  Amidist  school,2  which  teaches 
salvation  through  faith  in  the  god  -  Buddha 
Amitabha,  and  holds  out  the  promise  of  a  future 
life  of  unalloyed  happiness  in  the  Pure  Land  or 
Western  Paradise,  where  Amitabha  reigns  in 
unending  glory. 

Strictly  speaking,  this  school  is  quite  separate 
from  —  not  to  say  antagonistic  to  —  the  other  great 
schools  of  Buddhist  thought.  A  Chinese  writer 
justly  observes  that  believers  in  the  Pure  Land 


m  »  «  ±  «  ^  (&  in  at  *> 

2  The  convenient  terms  Amidism  and  Amidist  are  taken  from  the 
Japanese  form  (Amida)  of  the  name  Amitabha. 


THE  WHITE-DEER  GROTTO,    LU-SHAN,    KIANGSI. 


IMAGES   OF   MENCIUS  AND   TSENG-TZU   AT  THE   WHITE-DEER 
GROTTO,    KIANGSI. 


[Facing  p.  92. 


v.]  AMIDISM  93 

doctrines  do  not  belong  either  to  the  Ch'an 
school  or  to  the  Lli.1  But  as  a  matter  of  fact 
we  find  nowadays  that  nearly  every  Ch'an  monk 
is  more  or  less  of  an  Amidist ;  and  most  of  the 
Ch'an  monasteries — that  is  to  say,  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  great  monasteries  now  existing  in 
China — are  perfectly  tolerant  of  the  Pure  Land 
teachings.  Many  enlightened  Chinese  Buddhists 
will  declare  that  the  Ch'an  and  Ching-t'u  teachings 
are  not  really  inconsistent  with  one  another,  but 
that  the  Ch'an  doctrines  are  to  the  educated 
Buddhist  what  the  Amidist  doctrines  are  to  the 
ignorant.  At  the  same  time  the  fact  must  be 
admitted  that  the  religion  of  the  average  Chinese 
layman  has  little  in  common  with  the  religion  of 
a  highly-trained  and  perhaps  mystically-minded 
Buddhist  monk.  The  layman's  creed — in  China 
as  in  other  countries — is  a  nebulous  one.  His 
religious  conceptions  are  often  crude,  irrational, 
and  superstitious  ;  he  is  liable,  to  mistake  symbol 
for  objective  truth;  and  he  is  apt  to  assume 
that  faith  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  historic 
fact. 

The  Pure  Land,  or  Amidist,  teachings  have 
given  rise  to  one  phrase  which  may  be  said  to 
sum  up  the  hopes  and  beliefs  of  a  very  large  part 
of  Buddhist  China — a  phrase  which  is  constantly 
on  the  lips  of  monks  and  laymen  alike,  is  inscribed 
on  the  tablets  and  walls  of  countless  temples,  and 
is  carved  on  the  rocks  and  cliffs  of  a  hundred 


94  SCHOOLS  AND  SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

caverned  mountains.     This  is  Namo  Omito-Fo,  or 
simply  Omito-Fo. 

These  words  are  nothing  more  than  an  invoca 
tion  of  the  name  of  Amitabha,  the  most  revered 
of  the  so-called  Dhyani  or  "  Meditation  "  Buddhas.1 
The  following  table  will  show  the  relations  between 
these  Buddhas  and  their  bodhisats  and  their  so- 
called  "  earthly  "  reflexes.  The  Buddhas,  it  will  be 
seen,  are  represented  as  proceeding  or  emanating 
from  a  supreme  being  named  Adibuddha ;  but 
the  only  Buddha  with  whom  we  shall  have  much 
concern  in  the  pages  that  follow  is  Amitabha.  If 
it  were  our  task  to  study  the  Buddhism  of  Nepal 
or  Tibet  (Lamaism)  or  the  doctrinal  history  of 
the  Tantric  or  Mantra  sects,2  we  should  be  obliged 
to  devote  some  attention  to  the  complicated 
Buddhologies  associated  not  only  with  the 
mysterious  Adibuddha  but  also  with  the  four 
Buddhas  besides  Amitabha  whom  Adibuddha  is 
supposed  to  have  brought  forth  by  "  meditation." 


ADIBUDDHA 

1 

| 

| 

| 

Central 

East 

South 

West 

North 

Buddhas  : 

Vairochana 

Akshobhya 

Katnasambhava 

Amitabha 

Amoghasiddha 

| 

| 

| 

Bodhisattvas  : 

Samantabhadra 

Vajrapapi 

Katnapani 

Padmapani 

Vi^vapani 

or 

Avalokitesvara 

Earthly 

| 

Buddhas  : 

Krakuchandra 
(Kakusandha) 

Kanakamuni 
(Ko^agamana) 

KaSyapa 
(Kassapa) 

Gotama 
Sakyamuni 

Maitreya 
(Metteya) 

1  L.  de  la  V.  Poussin  doubts  whether  the  terms  Dhyanibuddha  and 
Dhyanibodhisattva  are  actually  used  in  the  Sanskrit  texts,  and  whether 
Amitabha  and  the  rest  should  not  rather  be  described  as  "  the  five 
Buddhas"  or  " the  five  Jinas  "  (see  E.R.E.,  i.  94). 

2  Chinese  Chen-yen  (Japanese  Shin-gori). 


v.]  AMITABHA  95 

The  Amidist  branch  of  the  Mahayanist 
Buddhology  has  elevated  Amitabha  to  a  position 
which,  in  a  great  part  of  the  Buddhist  world,  is 
one  of  unchallenged  supremacy.  Theoretically, 
however,  the  historical  Sakyamuni  is  mystically 
associated  with  the  Buddha  Amitabha  through 
being  his  earthly  embodiment,  or  rather  reflex  ; l 
and  worshippers  of  Amitabha  will  not  readily 
admit  that  Amidism  inculcates  any  doctrine  that 
is  not  at  least  implicit  in  the  teachings  of  the 
Indian  sage.  They  declare,  indeed,  that  the 
Amida  doctrines  were  actually  delivered  to  the 
world  by  Sakyamuni  Buddha  himself  in  the 
evening  of  his  life,  and  that  they  contain 
the  quintessence  of  Buddhist  truth.  This  view 
is  still  that  of  the  Shinshu  and  Jodo  sects  of 
Japan,  and  it  is  shared  by  the  Amidists  of  China, 
though  Buddhist  scholars  in  the  East,  as  in  the 
West,  are  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  sutras 
in  which  Amidism  is  enshrined — especially  the 
larger  and  smaller  Sukhavati  and  the  Amitayur- 
dhyana  sutras  —  were  not  the  product  of  early 
Buddhism.2 

1  With  regard  to  Buddhist  docetism,  see  above,  p.  77,  footnote. 

2  These  sutras — which  are  often  collectively  described  by  Chinese 
Buddhists  as  the  Ching-t'u  San  Ching,  "  The  Three  Sutras  of  the  Pure 
Land/'  are   known  in  Chinese  as  the   Wu-liang-shou-ching,  the  Omito- 
ching,  and  the  Kuan  Wu-liang-shou-ching,      English  translations  of  the 
first  and  second  from  the  Sanskrit  and  of  the  third  from  the  Chinese 
may  be  found  in  S.B.E.,  vol.  xlix.      The  extant  Chinese  translations 
of  the  three  sutras  belong  to  the  third  and  fifth  centuries  of  our  era. 
(see  B.N.  27,  198,,  200).      The  first  Chinese  translation  of  the   Wu- 
liang-shou-ching  seems  to   have   been   made   in   the  second    Christian 
century,  but  is  lost  (see  B.N.  23  [5]).     The  popular  Chinese  version 
is  that  of  Seng  Kfai,  whose  labours  are  to  be  assigned  to  the  middle  of 
the  third  century. 


96          SCHOOLS  AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

Of  Amitabha  we  are  told  that  countless  ages 
ago  he  was  a  rich  and  powerful  monarch.  Filled 
with  religious  zeal  and  with  profound  love  and 
compassion  for  his  fellow-men,  he  gave  up  his 
throne,  and  became  an  ascetic  under  the  name  of 
Fa-tsang  or  Fa-hsing — a  word  which  corresponds 
to  the  Sanskrit  Dharmakara,  and  signifies  the 
Nature  of  True  Religion  or  the  Divine  Essence. 
He  attained  to  bodhisatship  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Buddha  of  that  distant  age — Shih-tzu-tsai- 
wang  or  (in  Sanskrit)  Lokesvararaja — and  in  the 
presence  of  that  Buddha  (who  is  as  mythical  as 
Fa-tsang  himself)  he  made  a  series  of  great 
prayer-vows  or  pranidhanas,1  whereby  he  under 
took  to  become  a  Buddha  for  the  sake  of  the 
salvation  of  all  beings,  and  to  establish  a  heavenly 
kingdom  of  perfect  blessedness  in  which  all  living 
creatures  might  enjoy  an  age-long  existence  in  a 
state  of  supreme  happiness,  sinlessness,  and  wisdom. 
The  vows  of  Fa-tsang  are  set  out  at  full  length  in 
the  Wu-liang-shou-clung}  These  vows,  which  in 
the  Sanskrit  original  are  forty-six  in  number  and 
in  the  Chinese  version  forty-eight,  contain  minute 
descriptions  of  the  glories  and  wonders  of  the 
Paradise  to  which  Fa-tsang  undertook  to  welcome 
all  creatures.  The  ordinary  Chinese  names  for 
this  region  of  ineffable  blessedness  and  loveliness 
are  Ching-t'u  —  Pure  Land,  Hsi-Vien — Western 

1  Chinese  yilan-tu  (see  above,  p.  68). 

*  For  an  English  translation  of  the  Sanskrit,  see  S.B.E.,vol.  xlix.  pt. 
ii.  pp.  12-22. 


v.]  BUDDHIST  HEAVENS  97 

heaven,  and  Chi-lo-shih-chieh,  which  corresponds 
to  the  Sanskrit  Sukhavati,  the  Land  of  Supreme 
Bliss. 

To    save    possible    misconceptions,    it    should 
perhaps  be  explained  that  the   supposed   western 
position  of  Amitabha's  heaven   has   no   reference 
to     mundane    geography.       Each    of    the    Five 
Buddhas   is    understood    to  preside    over    one  of 
the    regions    of    the    universe :    Akshobhya,    for 
example,  rules  in  the  East  as  Amitabha  rules  in 
the  West.1     Each  of  the  Buddhas  has  a  "  heaven  " 
of  his  own,  and  all  these  "  heavens  "  are  supposed 
to   be   situated   at   an  incalculable  distance   from 
the  world    of   men.      Mystical    Buddhism    even 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  Buddhas  and  their 
heavens  are  countless  in   number,  and  that  each 
heaven  is  co- extensive  with  the  universe.      Strictly 
speaking,    therefore,    geographical    terms    should 
not    be    applied    to.  these    Buddha  -  heavens,   for 
they   are  outside  space,  just  as  the  Buddhas  are 
external   to    or    independent   of  both    space   and 
time.     To  the  mind  of  him  who  has  attained  a 
high   degree   of  spiritual    enlightenment,   all  the 
heavens    are    co-extensive,    not    only    with    the 
universe,    but    with    one    another,    and    all    the 
Buddhas    who    rule    in    these   countless   heavens 
are  sambhogakdya,   or   manifestations   of  the  one 
ultimate  truth.2 

It  is  the  eighteenth  of  the  forty-eight  "  vows  " 

1  See  table,  p.  94.  2  See  p,  77. 

G 


98  SCHOOLS  AND  SECTS  IN   CHINA  [OH. 

that  is  largely  responsible  for  the  popular 
developments  of  Amidism,  and  especially  for 
the  doctrine  that  mere  faith  in  Amitabha  and 
repetitions  of  his  name  are  sufficient  to  ensure  a 
rebirth  in  the  Western  Heaven. 

"  When  I  become  Buddha,"  says  Fa-tsang, 
the  future  Amitabha,  "  let  all  living  beings  of 
the  ten  regions  of  the  universe  maintain  a  con 
fident  and  joyful  faith  in  me  ;  let  them  concentrate 
their  longings  on  a  rebirth  in  my  Paradise  ;  and 
let  them  call  upon  my  name,  though  it  be  only 
ten  times  or  less  :  then,  provided  only  that  they 
have  not  been  guilty  of  the  five  heinous  sins, 
and  have  not  slandered  or  vilified  the  true  religion, 
the  desire  of  such  beings  to  be  born  in  my 
Paradise  will  surely  be  fulfilled.  If  this  be  not 
so,  may  I  never  receive  the  perfect  enlighten 
ment  of  Buddhahood."1 

This  vow,  if  we  may  believe  the  assurances 
of  the  Omito-ching,  was  more  than  fulfilled  ;  for 
there  we  are  told  that  it  is  not  through  personal 
merit  that  the  Paradise  of  Amitabha  may  be 


&  «  *  £  *  *  $  IE  ft  m  R  a  5i  m  &  IE  a 

The  Wu-niy  or  (  '  five  heinous  sins/'  were  originally  these  —  murder 
of  a  mother,  of  a  father,  of  an  arahant  ;  shedding  the  blood  of  a 
Buddha  ;  and  causing  schisms  in  the  Buddhist  Church.  The 
Mahayanists  invented  a  somewhat  different  classification,  in  which, 
however,  the  foregoing  are  included.  The  position  of  the  final  clause 
in  the  Chinese  text  suggests  that  it  was  a  late  addition.  According 
to  the  Kuan  Wu-liang-shou-ching,  even  he  who  has  committed  the  five 
great  sins  will  at  last  be  saved  and  reborn  in  the  Pure  Land,  '  '  though 
he  deserve  to  suifer  torments  through  a  myriad  ages."  His  lotus-flower, 
however  (see  p.  106),  will  not  open  till  after  an  enormous  lapse  of  time 
—  twelve  greater  kalpas. 


AMITABHA  BUDDHA. 

(For  explanation  of  circles  see  pp.  109-110.) 


v.]  REBIRTH   IN   PARADISE  99 

attained  but  through  trust  in  that  Buddha's 
abounding  might  and  pity  and  through  faithful 
repetitions  of  his  holy  name.  The  Chinese  com 
mentators  do  not  hesitate,  indeed,  to  assert  that 
no  amount  of  virtue  will  ensure  a  rebirth  in  the 
Western  Paradise  if  unaccompanied  by  invocations 
of  the  name  of  Amitabha.1  The  sutra  itself 
informs  us  that  the  man  who  with  steadfast  faith 
and  quiet  mind  calls  upon  that  name  for  a  period 
of  only  a  week,  or  even  for  a  single  day,  may  face 
death  with  perfect  serenity  ;  for  Amitabha,  attended 
by  a  host  of  celestial  bodhisats,  will  assuredly 
appear  before  his  dying  eyes,  and  will  carry  him 
away  to  a  joyful  rebirth  in  that  Pure  Land  in 
which  sorrow  and  sighing  are  no  more.2 


Cf.  the  theory  at  one  time  held  in  Christendom  (see,  e.g.,  the  thirteenth 
of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles)  that  the  virtues  practised  by  those  who  do 
not  put  their  faith  in  Christ  are  devoid  of  spiritual  efficacy  or  are  but 
(t  splendid  vices."  With  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  Buddhist  theory 
of  salvation  by  faith,  see  above,  pp.  60-65,  78.  It  is  undoubtedly  this 
doctrine  which  is  answerable  for  the  enormous  popularity  of  Amidism 
in  China  and  Japan  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  doctrine  which  is  repug 
nant  to  the  spirit  of  early  Buddhism  as  preached  by  £akyamuni, 
who  would  have  regarded  it  as  highly  objectionable  from  the  moral 
standpoint.  As  Lord  Ernest  Hamilton  observes  in  his  Involution, 
1912,  pp.  157-167  :  "  Any  religion  which  guarantees  immunity  from 
the  consequences  of  sin  in  return  for  an  attitude  of  passive  confidence 
is  manifestly  immoral.  .  .  .  Unfortunately,  however,  no  religion  is 
popular  for  long  which  is  not  proffered  as  a  substitute  for  morals. 
Morals  are  irksome,  and  a  mechanical  dispensation  from  all  sins  of 
omission  and  commission  is  naturally  attractive.  It  is  always  easier 
to  sing  a  psalm  than  to  be  good."  See  also  pp.  289-290  of  the  same 
work,  and  cf.  Tyrrell's  Christianity  at  the  Cross-roads,  1910,  pp.  72-3. 

2  The  vows  made  by  the  future  Amitabha  Buddha  in  the  presence 
of  the  Buddha  Lokesvararaja  (a  name  which  has  the  significant  meaning 
of  "Lord  of  the  Universe")  are  not  without  a  Christian  or  pseudo- 
Christian  parallel.  We  are  reminded  of  the  apocryphal  Transitut 


100        SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

Of  Amitabha's  attendant  bodhisats,  by  far 
the  most  conspicuous  are  Avalokitesvara  (Chinese 
Kuan-yin)  and  Mahasthama  (Chinese  Ta-shih- 
chih).1  These  are  popularly  represented  as  stand 
ing  on  either  side  of  Amitabha,  Avalokitesvara 
being  on  the  left  and  Mahasthama  on  the  right. 
These  bodhisats  are  hardly  inferior  in  glory  and 
majesty  to  Amitabha  himself.  Both  are  described 
with  much  luxuriance  of  language  in  the  Kuan 
Wu  -  Hang  -  shou  -  ching?  and  both  act  as  the 
protectors  and  guides  of  men  in  their  perilous 
journey  over  the  ocean  of  life  and  death.  In 
China  Ta-shih-chih  (Mahasthama),  the  bodhisat 
of  Great  Power,  takes  a  more  prominent  place 
in  the  sacred  literature  than  he  has  secured  in  the 
religious  affections  of  the  people,  for  he  has  been 
overshadowed  by  the  ever  -  increasing  popularity 
of  his  brother-bodhisat.  Kuan-yin  (Avalokitesvara) 
probably _  receives  a  larger  amount  of  willing 
jgyerence  in  China  to-day  than  any  other  object 
of  Buddhist  worship  —  not  only  on  account  of 
his  association  with  the  divine  Amitabha,  whose 

^,,1  ,|       ^  •  ». 

son,  in  a  mystical  sense,  he  is  represented  to  be, 
but  also  on  account  of  his  own  transcendent^ 

Sanctue  Marine,  which  relates  how  the  Virgin  offers  up  a  prayer  in 
Christ's  presence  that  he  will  extend  his  help  to  all  who  call  upon 
her  name.  Writing  of  this  work,  Prof.  Yrjo  Hirn  observes  that  it 
was  introduced  from  some  Eastern  country  into  the  Roman  Church 
during  the  fifth  century  of  our  era  (The  Sacred  tihrine,  1912, 
p.  412). 

1  Kuan-yin    and    Ta-shih-chih    are   the    Japanese    Kwannou   and 
Seishi. 

2  See  S.B.E.,  vol.  xlix.  (ii.)  pp.  176,  181-189, 


v.]  KUAN-YIN  101 

virtues,  for  he  is  regarded  as  tjhe^Lord  of  Love 
and  Compassion,  who  is  never  weary  of  succour 
ing  those  who  are  in  danger_.o£.  in  pain.^ 

There  are  various  jnterpretations  of  the  mean- 

J2S_2Lj!?e  ^I^AY^L0^6^^1"1'  but  tne  name 
is  usually  taken  to  signify  "the  Lord  who  looks 
down  upon,  or  hears  the  cries  of,  the  world."  2 
This  meaning  is  supposed  to  be  expressed  in  the 
Chinese  Kuan-yin  or  Kuan-sfiih-yin.  But  in 
one  important  respect  Kuan-yin  differs  from 
Avalokitesvara  :  for  in  popular  Chinese  and 
Japanese  Buddhisn^  Kuan-yin  is  not  a  male  but 
a  female  bodhisat.  She  is  the  being  who  is 
known  to  Europeans  in  China  and  Japan  as 
the  "Goddess  of  Mercy."  The  change  of  sex 
has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained.  That 
Christianity  had  anything  to  do  with  the  matter 
is  improbable  ;  but  it  is  hardly  an  exaggeration 
to  say  that  in  the  eyes  of  multitudes  of  devout 
Buddhists  Kuan-yin  occupies  a  place  that  is  not 
unworthy  of  comparison  with  that  of  the  Virgin 
'in  Catholic  Christendom.  Kuan-yin  is  the 
patron  -  bodhisat  of  Puto  -  shan  —  a  fact  which  in 
itself  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  fame  and 


The   language   of   the   sutras   is   often    highly 
mystical  and  not  easily  understood  by  the  laity. 

1  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that,  like  the  God  of  the  mystical  writer  of 
the  Johannine  Gospel,  Amitabha  both  "draws"  men  to  himself  and 
"  sends"  his  son  Avalokitesvara  to  bring  men  to  him. 

2  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  name,  see  L.  de  la  Vallee  Poussiii's  ex 
haustive  article  in  E.R.E.,  ii.  256  ff. 

3  See  chap.  xi. 


102         SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

For  their  benefit  there  exist  large  numbers  of 
popular  tracts  and  devotional  handbooks  which 
teach  good  Chinese  Buddhists  how  they  may 
best  follow  the  path  that  leads  to  Amitabha  and 
the  Pure  Land.  Books  of  this  or  a  similar  kind 
(Taoist  as  well  as  Buddhist)  are  often  printed 
and  distributed  at  the  expense  of  pious  monks 
and  laymen,  and  are  usually  as  simple  in  doctrine 
as  they  are  artless  in  style.  Their  moral  tone 
and  teachings  are  generally  irreproachable.  Many 
of  them  contain  excellent  discourses  on  such 
subjects  as  filial  piety,  brotherly  love,  charity, 
the  evils  of  self-indulgence ;  and  if  we  admit — 
as  we  must  -  -  that  they  often  contain  a  good 
deal  that  is  crude  and  unspiritual,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  that  they  are  intended  for  the  edification, 
not  of  the  learned,  but  of  the  simple  -  minded 
masses,  who  —  in  China  as  elsewhere  —  like  to 
flavour  their  religion  with  the  strong  spices  of 
superstition.  To  regard  these  popular  tracts  as 
authoritative  statements  of  the  creed  of  an 
enlightened  Buddhist  or  Amidist  would  be  as 
unfair  as  to  suppose  that  the  beliefs  professed 
by  a  Spanish  peasant  or  a  mestizo  of  Ecuador, 
or  the  theological  views  entertained  by  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  Salvation  Army,  are  characteristic 
of  Christianity  at  its  highest  spiritual  level. 

The  tracts  issued  by  the  Pure  -  Land  sects 
never  fail  to  emphasize  the  advantages  of  repeat 
ing,  with  a  faithful  heart,  the  holy  name  of 
TEose~who"SIIow  other  methods  of 


v.]  THE   PURE   LAND  103 

religious  advancemejit_aTeJ^ejie^  v 

slpwljrjfin^^ 

mountain,  whereas  those  who  _glace_  their_  whole 
trust  in  Amitabha  are  said  to  be  borne  along 
easily,  like  a  boalf  that  sails  down- 


sjtrearn^  with  a  favourable  wind.  The  journey 
to  the  Pure~Land~is  oftelS  represented  in  more 
or  less  crude  woodcuts,  which  show  us  shiploads 
of  Amitabha's  worshippers  sailing  over  the  "  bitter 
sea"  of  human  sorrow  under  the  captainship  of 
Kuan-yin,1  or  portray  the  figures  of  Omito 
(Amitabha)  and  his  two  bodhisats,  from  whose 
aureoled  heads  shafts  of  light  dart  forth  into  the 
sombre  places  of  the  universe.  In  front  of  the 
three  divine  beings  —  the  Father  Amitabha,  the  Son 
Avalokitesvara,  the  Spirit  of  Power  Mahasthama 
—  are  often  pictured  the  sparkling  waters  of  the 
sacred  lake  of  the  Pure  Land,  the  surface  of 
which  is  starred  with  lotus-flowers,  each  bearing 
in  its  calyx  the  spiritual  body  of  one  of  those 
fortunate  beings  who  by  the  grace  of  Amitabha 
or  the  guidance  of  Avalokitesvara  have  attained 
the  felicity  of  a  rebirth  in  the  Western  Paradise. 
There  is  much  beautiful  religious  symbolism 
associated  with  the  lotus  —  a  flower  which  may 
be  said  to  occupy  in  the  Buddhist  imagination 
a  place  somewhat  analogous  to  that  occupied  in 
Christian  thought  by  the  Cross.  The  canonical 

1  The  ship  was  also  used  as  a  symhol  in  early  Christianity.  It 
indicated  the  Church,  in  which  the  faithful  are  safely  carried  over  the 
sea  of  life. 


. 


104         SCHOOLS  AND   SECTS   IN  CHINA  [CH. 

scriptures  have  preserved  the  striking  words  in 
which  £akyamuni  compared  himself  with  the 
lotus :  "  Just  as  a  lotus,  born  in  water,  bred 
in  water,  overcomes  water  and  is  not  defiled  by 
water,  even  so  I,  born  in  the  world  and  bred 
in  the  world,  have  now  overcome  the  world." 
In  Buddhist  temples  the  images  of  the  Buddhas 
and  bodhisats  are  usually  represented  as  sitting 
enthroned,  or  standing,  on  the  open  calyxes  of 
lotuses ;  and  the  Mahay  ana  sutras  which  serve 
as  the  foundation  of  Amidism  make  a  symbolic 
use  of  the  same  beautiful  flower  in  connexion 
with  the  passing  of  the  souls  of  the  blessed  into 
the  Pure  Land  of  Amitabha.  *The  theory  (as 
set  forth  in  the  sutras  and  popularized  in  number 
less  manuals  of  Amidist  piety)  is  that  when  a 
believer  in  Amitabha  is  about  to  die,  a  multitude 
of  divine  beings  will  attend  to  soothe  his  last 
moments  and  protect  his  soul  from  the  clutches 
of  evil  spirits ;  and  as  soon  as  he  is  dead  he 
will  be  carried  off  instantaneously  to  heaven, 
where  he  will  be  reborn  with  a  spiritual  body 
within  the  calyx  of  one  of  the  lotuses  of  the 
sacred  lake. 

One  of  the  Japanese  leaders  (Honen)  of  the 
Pure  -  Land  school  taught  that  when  a  true 
believer  in  Amitabha  is  at  the  point  of  death 
his  friends  should  put  into  his  hand  some  parti 
coloured  threads,  the  other  ends  of  which  were 
to  be  fastened  to  one  of  the  hands  of  an  image 
or  picture  of  Amitabha  placed  at  the  foot  of 


v.]  AMIDIST   CREED  105 

his  bed.1  Thus  the  dying  gaze  of  the  faithful 
Amidist  is  directed  towards  the  radiant  figure  of 
the  lord  Amitabha,  just  as  the  dying  Catholic 
contemplates  his  crucified  Saviour's  image  upheld 
before  his  failing  eyes  by  the  ministering  priest. 
The  Amidist  practice  has,  of  course,  a  symbolical 
value.  As  the  physical  body  of  the  dying  Amidist 
is  united  by  silken  bonds  to  a  material  image  or 
portrait  of  his  Lord,  so,  it  is  taught,  will  the 
spirit,  when  it  is  released  from  the  flesh,  be  drawn 
by  the  divine  Buddha  into  his  glorious  Paradise 
and  into  communion  with  himself. 

Those  who  are  happily  destined  to  be  reborn 
in  the  PureTLand  do  not  necessarily  "enteTlmmedi-    f 
ately  after  death  into  the  joys  of  their  heavenly  ) 
home.     It  is  supposed  that  each  of  the  "  saved  "  \ 
is    assigned    to    one    or    other    of    nine    different  ' 
classes.     Those  who   throughout  their  earth-lives 
were  always  steadfast  in  faith   and   blameless   in 
conduct   are   placed   in    the    highest   class,   while 
the  rest  are  assigned   to   the   classes   appropriate  j 
to  the  degree  of  their  faith  or  merit.     Faith  in  ' 
Amitabha  is  of  itself  sufficient,  as  we  have  seen,  j 
to  ensure  an  eventual  birth   in   his   heaven,  and 
without  faith  good  works   are   of  no   avail ;    but  j 
the  candidate  who   has   virtue    and   good   works  \ 
to  his  credit,   as  well   as  a  strong  faith,  will  be  | 
placed  in  a  higher  class  than  one  who  has  gained 

1  For  some  remarks  on  this  subject,  and  on  Japanese  Amidism 
in  general,  especially  in  its  relations  with  fine  art,  see  the  Kokka 
(a  Japanese  art  journal  published  in  Tokyo),  May  1912,  pp.  243  ff. 


106  SCHOOLS  AND   SECTS  IN  CHINA          [OH. 

Paradise  through  faith  alone.     The  virtues  which 
receive    the     strongest     emphasis    in    this     con 
nexion    are    of  three    kinds  —  social,   ceremonial, 
and  religious ;   and  the  place  of  honour  is  given 
to    filial    piety.1      He    who    is    assigned    to    the 
highest    class    will    enter   into    the   joys    of   the 
Western    Heaven    immediately    after    death,    for 
his  lotus-flower  will  open  out  as  soon  as  he  has 
been    reborn    in    the    sacred    lake,    and    he    will 
therefore    "see    Buddha's    form    and    body    with 
every  sign  of  perfection   complete,  and   also  the 
perfect    forms    and    signs    of   all    the    bodhisats." 
He  who   belongs   to   one   of  the   inferior   classes 
will  be   carried_nq^Jess   speedily   to   the  lake  of 
lotuses,    but    his     own    lotus    will    not    unfold 
immediately,    and    until    it    unfolds    he    will    be 
excluded    from    the    radiant    light    that^  streams 
fron^the^glprious   Amitabha.       In   the    case   of 
those   who    have    been    assigned    to    one    of   the 
lowest   classes,   the  lotus  will   not   open  for  im 
measurable  ages.     The  ninth  class  includes  those 
who  have    committed    the    "  five   heinous   sins " 2 
and  other  enormities,  and  who,  if  they  had  not 
saved    themselves    on    their    deathbeds    by   con 
centrating   their   last    thoughts   on  the  name  of 
the    Buddha     Amitabha,    would     have    had     to 
expiate  their  evil  deeds  through  ages  of  torment. 
Their  lotuses  will  not   open   till   after  the  lapse 
of    "  twelve   greater    kalpas " — a    period   of   time 

1  See  the  Wu-liang-shou-cUng ,  S.B.E.,  vol.  xlix.  (ii.)  p.  167. 

2  See  p.  98. 


v.]  THE   BEATIFIC  VISION  107 

so  vast  as  to  be  almost  beyond  the  reach  of 
thought.  The  state  of  those  who  lie  imprisoned 
within  the  closed  calyxes  of  their  lotuses  may 
be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  painless  purgatory. 
They  are  in  heaven  and  yet  not  of  it,  for  they 
have  no  share  in  its  delights,  and  are  deprived 
of  the  joy  of  contemplating  the  glory  of  the 
lord  Amitabha, 

The  belief  of  the  Amidist  that  the  sinner's 
punishment  will  be  a  temporary  exclusion  from  the 
presence  of  Buddha  is  strangely  similar  to  that 
of  Catholic  Christendom — that  the  real  pain  of  hell 
consists  in  the  carentia  visionis  Dei — exclusion  from 
the  sight  of  God.  According  to  Catholic  doctrine, 
the  greatest  of  all  heavenly  joys  is  the  beatific 
vision — optatissima  beatitudo  in  Dei  visione  consistit ; 
and  "all  theologians  agree,"  writes  a  Catholic 
priest,  "  that  whatever  other  torments  there  may 
be,  the  loss  of  God  is  immeasurably,  transcendently 
worse  than  any  other." l  But  there  is  one  enormous 
difference  between  the  Christian  theory  and  the 
Buddhist — the  de  fide  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  that  the  punishments  of  hell  are  eternal ; 
the  Buddhist  holds  that  there  is  no  eternity  in  ,r  A  ; 
things  evil,  and  that  the  whole  universe  will "' 
ultimately  enter  into  Buddhahood.  Perhaps  it  is 
not  too  rash  to  say  that  many  devout  Christian 
thinkers  of  the  present  time  would  subscribe  to  the 

1  Rev.  John  Gerard,  S.J.,,m  The  Hibbert  Journal,  Oct.  1906,  p.  125. 
This  is  the  punishment  inflicted  upon  infants  who  die  unbaptized  (see 
above,  p.  63). 


108          SCHOOLS  AND  SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

Buddhistic  doctrine  on  this  subject  much  more 
readily  than  to  the  doctrine  of  eternal  damnation 
which  has  been  officially  taught  by  the  Christian 
Churches.1  Indeed  the  Buddhistic  view  is  not  an 
unknown  one  in  the  Christian  speculation  of  an 
earlier  day :  did  not  Duns  Scotus  declare  that  evil 
has  no  substance,  and  is  destined  to  disappear,  and 
that  all  will  ultimately  be  God  ?  An  Anglican 
theologian  of  to-day  even  finds  traces  of  this  belief 
in  one  of  the  Pauline  Epistles,2  and  his  own  views 
on  the  subject  are  hardly  distinguishable  from 
the  universally-recognized  tenets  of  Mahayana 
Buddhism.3 

f»  The  religious  imagination  has  added  various  em 
bellishments  to  the  lotus  symbolism  of  Mahayanist 
orthodoxy.  It  is  said,  for  instance,  that  when 
any  one  becomes  a  disciple  of  Amitfibha  Buddha  by 
invoking  his  name,  a  lotus-plant  representing  that 
person  makes  its  appearance  in  the  sacred  lake. 
If  during  his  earthly  career  he  is  devout,  virtuous, 
and  zealous  in  his  religious  and  social  duties,  his 
lotus  will  thrive ;  if  he  is  irreligious,  vicious,  or 


1  G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  in  his  Religion  and  Immortality,  1911,  p.  47> 
says  :  ' '  I  am  aware,  of  course,  that  many  modern  people  calling  them 
selves  Christians  do  not  accept  the  doctrine  of  Hell ;  but  it  has  been 
an  essential  doctrine  of  Christian  theology  at  least  from  the  time 
of  Augustine." 

2  Romans  chap.  viii. 

3  See  Dr.  W.    R.   Inge's    Christian  Mysticism,  ed.   1912,  pp.   68-9, 
328-9.     ' '  In  this  hope,"  says  Dean  Inge,  meaning  the  hope  of  eternal 
salvation,    ff  we  may  include  all    creation."     See   especially   the    fine 
passage   beginning,    (<  The   human    spirit   beats   against    the   bars   of 
space  and  time,"  and  ending,  "  an  earnest  of  a  final  victory  over  the 
grave." 


v.]  HOLY  NAME   OF   AMITABHA  109 

negligent,  it  will  languish  or  shrivel  up.  It  is  also 
said  that  when  the  worshipper  of  Amitabha  is 
about  to  die  Kuan-yin  will  appear  before  him 
holding  the  dying  man's  lotus  in  his  hand.  The 
spirit,  when  it  leaves  the  body,  will  immediately 
be  placed  by  Kuan-yin  in  the  heart  of  the  lotus, 
which  will  then  be  carried  back  to  the  waters  of 
the  Pure  Land.  At  the  appointed  time  the  closed 
flower  will  re- open  on  the  surface  of  the  sacred 
lake,  and  the  happy  spirit  will  awake  to  find  itself 
enthroned  in  Paradise. 

The  excessive  emphasis  laid  on  the  efficacy  - 
of  mere  repetitions  of  the  name  of  Amitabha  has 
led  to  various  foolish  fancies.  It  may  be  noticed, 
for  example,  that  many  of  the  crude  woodcuts 
relating  to  the  Western  Heaven  and  its  Buddha 
and  bodhisats  are  starred  with  little  circles.  These 
do  not  serve  a  merely  decorative  purpose.  They 
are  supposed  to  be  used  as  a  means  of  recording 
the  number  of  times  that  the  possessor  of  the 
picture  has  invoked  Amitabha's  name.  When  he 
completes  a  hundred  (or  a  thousand)  invocations 
he  takes  a  brush-pen,  dips  it  in  red  ink,  and  fills 
in  one  of  the  circles.  When  all  the  circles  are 
filled  in  he  begins  the  process  over  again  by  using 
ink  of  a  different  colour.  Having  made  the  most 
of  the  circles  on  one  sheet  or  tract,  he  puts  it  away 
in  a  safe  place  and  starts  work  on  another.  If 
he  perseveres  in  these  proceedings  for  a  few  years, 
his  sheets  of  inked  circles  will  reach  the  thickness 
of  a  book,  and  the  total  number  of  invocations 


110          SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

which  they  will  represent  may  amount  to  millions. 
He  must  carefully  preserve  all  his  circled  sheets 
until  his  last  illness  deprives  him  of  the  hope  of 
making  any  further  additions  to  their  number. 
When  he  is  at  the  point  of  death  he  should  cause 
them  to  be  ceremonially  committed  to  the  flames : 
they  will  then  become  his  spiritual  passport  to 
the  Western  Heaven,  and  he  will  receive  full 
credit  for  each  invocation  uttered  and  recorded 
during  his  life  on  earth. 

This  childish  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  a  mechanical 
repetition  of  a  sacred  name  has  many  parallels 
in  other  countries  and  in  other  religions.  The 
Bengali  Vaishnavas,  for  example,  believe  that  the 
mere  utterance  of  the  name  of  Krishna  is  a  re 
ligious  act  of  great  merit,  even  though  such  utter 
ance  is  unaccompanied  by  any  feeling  of  religious 
devotion.  A  European  observer  has  defended  the 
worshippers  of  Krishna  against  hostile  critics  of 
this  practice  by  remarking  that  the  mechanical 
repetition  of  the  holy  name  is  based  on  sound 
principles,  inasmuch  as  the  practice  was  originally 
prompted  by  a  devotional  intention,  "  which  in 
tention  is  virtually  continued  so  long  as  the  act 
is  in  performance."1 

In _the_jcase_of  Amidisnr-it_is.~quite__true-  that 

1  See  Growse's  Mathura,  p.  197,  cited  in  Hastings,  E.R.E., 
ii.  493.  Growse  (himself  a  Roman  Catholic)  quotes  a  Catholic 
manual  in  which  it  is  explained  that  (C  it  is  not  necessary  that  the 
intention  should  be  actual  throughout ;  .  .  .  only  a  virtual  intention 
is  required — that  is  to  say,  an  intention  which  has  been  actual  and 
is  supposed  to  continue,  although,  through  inadvertence  or  distraction,, 
we  may  have  lost  sight  of  it." 


v.]  NOMEN  EST  NUMEN  111 

& 
a  genuine_,ajid__stead£ast,-faitb  __  in__Amitab_ha   is. 

enjoined  upon,  ..all  _who  call  upon  his  .name«__._Tke. 
enlightened^  ^Amidist  holds  that  the  invocation 
of  Amitabfaa  is  efficacious  because^  the^jnan  who 
with  a^ure_and  faithful  heart  call^jipori  _that  holy 
name  will  thereby  awaken  the  Buddha  that  is 
within^the  depths  of  his  own  being.  ^The  sense 
of  egojsm_jmd  of  individuality  will  fade  away, 
and  he  will  become  conscious  of  essential  oneness 
with  the_^Dharmakaya  —  the  Buddha  that  is~  at 
the  heart  of  the  unive^s^^^tjmiistjbe  admitted, 
however,  that  the  more  ignorant  Amidists  believe 
and  are  allowed,  if  not  encouraged, 


spiritual  teachers  to  believe  —  that  the  mere 
utterance  of  the  name  of  Amitabha  has  a  quasi- 
magical  efBcacy  proper  to  itself,  alncT  That  such 
efficacy  is  not  necessarily  ^pendenF  on 


istence  of  a  robust  faith  in  the  person  by  whom  the 
name  is  uttered.  In  other  words,  the  spoken^or 
written  name  of  Amitabha  (as  is  the  case  with 
manyjpther  names^nd  phrases)  is  regardedLas  a 
P^cjj[j^g^jy  jpotent  .charm.  Nomen  estjnmnen  has 
been  considered  a  sound  maxim  in  most  of  the 
great^eligious  systems  of  East  andJW^gjt?  Its 
validity  was  unquestioned  by  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
whose  magical  use  of  the  holy  name  of  Osiris  is 
known  to  us  through  the  Book  of  the  Dead  ;  it  was 
accepted  by  the  followers  of  the  Gnostic  Basilides, 
and  the  formula  retains  a  remnant  of  vitality  in 
some  of  the  darker  corners  of  Christendom  to-day. 

1  Gf.  Minucius  Felix  :  "  Nee  nomen  Deo  quaeras  ;  Deus  nomen  est." 


112 


SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA 


[CH. 


We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  word- 
spells  still  occupying  a  somewhat  important  place 
in  the  machinery  of  Buddhist  priestcraft  in  China. 
In  Taoism,  be  it  mentioned  in  passing,  spells  and 
charms  occupy  a  far  more  conspicuous  position 
than  they  do  in  Buddhism ;  and  even  in  certain 
popular  adaptations  of  Confucianism  they  are  not 
unknown. 

Fortunately  for  the  ethical  welfare  of  its 
votaries,  Buddhism  seldom  forgets,  in  spite  of  its 
occasional  leanings  towards  magic,  its  more  austere 
functions  as  a  teacher  of  sound  morals.  De 
votional  manuals  of  even  the  simplest  and  most 
popular  description  do  not  suffer  from  any  lack  of 
wise  saws  and  moral  apothegms,  some  taken  from 
the  recognized  scriptures,  others  from  the  poems, 
sermons,  and  essays  of  monkish  philosophers.  Some 
times  exhortations  to  good  conduct  are  accom 
panied  by  quaint  diagrams  such  as  the  following — 


This  is  a  pictorial  illustration  of  the  fate  that 
overwhelms  the  "heart"   or   character  of  a  man 


FORM   FOR   RECORDING   UTTERANCES  OF  THE 

NAME    OF   AMITABHA. 
(For  explanation  of  circles  see  pp.  109-110.) 


Facing  p. 


v.]  TIME   AND  SPACE  115 

who  gives  way  to  evil  impulses.  Reading  the 
diagram  from  right  to  left,  we  see  that  the  heart 
of  the  child  is  pure  and  guileless.  As  he  grows 
older  the  heart  becomes  gradually  darker,  and  at 
last  it  is  wholly  black.  These  are  the  retrograde 
stages  in  the  life  of  the  man  who  was  born  with 
a  good  endowment  of  character,  or  "  karma,"  but 
failed  to  maintain  its  pristine  purity  or  to  develop 
its  higher  potentialities.  There  are  corresponding 
diagrams  in  which  the  "  heart  "  shows  a  progressive 
improvement  from  blackness  to  whiteness.  These 
stand  for  cases  in  which  the  inherited  karma  was 
thoroughly  bad ;  and  indicate  how  the  possessor 
of  such  a  karma,  after  a  long  struggle  against  the 
sinful  tendencies  of  his  nature,  may  finally  emerge 
victorious  over  evil  and  ready  for  an  immediate 
rebirth  in  the  Pure  Land  of  Amitabha. 

An  English  wrriter  on  Buddhism  refers  to  the 
fondness  of  the  Buddhists  for  associating  sacred 
persons  and  events  with  incalculable  periods  of 
time  and  immeasurable  regions  of  space.  They 
love,  he  says,  "  to  deal  with  immense  numbers,  in 
a  meaningless  fashion."  But  the  criticism  is  a 
mistaken  one,  for  the  frequent  and  rather  tiresome 
references  to  immense  numbers  are  very  far  from 
meaningless.  They  are  intended  to  convey  to  the 
unphilosophic  mind  some  conceptions  of  truths 
which  are  independent  of  the  limitations  of  space 
and  time.  Aristotle,  in  a  famous  passage,  said 

that  poetry  was  a  more  philosophical  and  a  higher 

H 


114  SCHOOLS   AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

thing  than  history,1  because  poetry  tends  to  express 
the  universal,  whereas  history  deals  with  the 
particular.  Somewhat  similar  in  kind  —  so  the 
Mahayanist  doctors  would  say — are  the  relations 
between  the  Hlnayana  and  the  Mahayana  forms 
of  Buddhism.  The  latter  is  higher  and  more 
philosophical  than  the  former  because,  under  the 
forms  of  religious  or  mystical  imagery,  it  expresses 
the  universal,  whereas  the  Hlnayana  cannot  set 
itself  free  from  the  domination  of  the  historical 
fact.  The  Mahayanist  would  not,  perhaps,  admit 
in  so  many  words  that  his  form  of  Buddhism  is 
unhistorical,  but  he  would  affirm,  nevertheless,  that 
it  is  independent  of  history  because  it  transcends 
it.2  The  Ckin-kuang-ming  sutra  says  it  would  be 
easier  to  count  every  drop  of  water  in  the  ocean, 
or  every  grain  of  matter  that  composes  a  vast 
mountain,  than  to  reckon  the  duration  of  the  life 
of  Buddha.  That  is  to  say,  Buddha's  life  does 
not  belong  to  the  time-series :  Buddha  is  the  "  I 
am"  who  is  above  time. 

There  are  some  interesting  passages  bearing  on 
this  subject   in   a   Japanese   Buddhist    Catechism 

1  0iXoo-o0wre/)oi>  KOA,  (r-rrovdaioTepov  (Poetics,  ix.  3). 

2  This  feature  of  the  Mahayana  is  of  interest  to  Western  students  in 
view  of  the  efforts  of  a  large  and  growing  body  of  Christian  scholars 
to  secure  a  similar  independence    of  historical   fact   for  their  own 
religion.     This  tendency  does  not  show  itself  in  Catholic  c '  Modernism  " 
only :  it  is  also  very  prominent  in  recent  developments  of  Anglican 
scholarship.     (Cf.,  for  example,  the  works  of  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Thompson, 
more  especially  Through  Facts  to  Faith,  1912.)     Dr  Shirley  Case,  in  his 
recent  book  on  The  Historicity  of  Jesus,  emphasizes  the  need  "to  break 
the  '  entangling  alliance '  between  religion  and  history  in  order  to  give 
the  spirit  liberty." 


v.]     BUDDHISM  INDEPENDENT  OF  HISTORY     115 

which  has  recently  been  translated  into  English.1 
The  pupil  is  warned  by  the  catechist  not  to  lay 
too  much  stress  on  mere  matters  of  historical 
fact,  inasmuch  as  these  have  no  religious 
significance.  The  Buddha  Amida  (Amitftbha) 
made  a  great  vow  that  he  would  prepare  a  way 
for  all  living  beings  to  attain  the  perfection  of 
Buddhahood.  This  vow  was  fulfilled  when  he 
made  the  "  White  Way "  that  leads  from  the 
world  of  men  to  the  so-called  Western  Heaven,  of 
which  he  is  the  ever-compassionate  Lord.  When 
was  this  great  work  performed  ?  Some  say  ten 
ages  ago,  some  say  in  the  eternities  of  the  past. 

"  But  it  does  not  matter,"  says  our  Buddhist 
Catechism,  "  whether  we  say  ten  kalpas  or  eternity, 
for  the  essence  of  the  universe  is  not  subject  to 
space  and  time.  Still  it  is  the  free  and  eternal 
truth  which  belongs  to  the  timeless  and  measure 
less  eternity  that  after  all  has  value  for  a  world 
which  is  conditioned  by  space  and  time.  There 
fore  the  Amida  who  attained  perfection  ten  kalpas 
ago  is  the  same  as  the  one  who  attained  Buddha- 
hood  in  the  eternities  of  the  past.  Both  are 
explained  in  terms  suited  to  meet  the  degree  of 
intelligence  to  which  they  are  revealed,  and  in 
reality  there  is  no  difference  between  them." 

We  need  not  perplex  ourselves,  continues  our 
catechist,  with  questions  as  to  the  time  or  place  at 
which  the  Buddha  (that  is,  Amitabha)  performed 

1 A  Catechism  of  the  Shin  Sect,  trans,  by  A.  K.  Reischauer  in 
Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  1912  (aee  vol.  xxxviii. 
pt.  v.  pp.  362-7). 


116          SCHOOLS    AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

the  great  works  associated  with  his  name.  The 
important  thing  is  that  Buddha's  body,  as  the 
scriptures  say,  "fills  the  ends  of  the  universe. 
It  is  revealed  to  all  living  beings  everywhere  and 
always  in  a  manner  suited  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  life  to  which  it  appears." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  emphasize  another 
standpoint  from  which  the  Buddhist  practice  of 
associating  religious  truths  with  vast  periods  of 
time  and  immeasurable  space  may  be  defended. 
Geology  and  astronomy  were  not  long  ago  re 
garded  in  Europe  as  "  terrible  Muses  " — to  quote 
Tennyson's  expression — because  they  made  havoc 
of  current  religious  notions  and  taught  truths 
which  (before  the  development  of  new  apologetic 
methods)  were  seen  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
theory  of  scriptural  inspiration.  The  Buddhist,  on 
the  other  hand,  finds  nothing  to  shock  or  disturb 
his  religious  faith  in  modern  discoveries  concerning 
the  immensities  of  stellar  space,  the  antiquity  of 
man,  or  the  age  of  the  globe.  Not  only  does  he 
accept  with  perfect  equanimity  all  that  science  has 
to  teach  him  on  these  and  other  subjects,  but  he 
sees  in  these  new  discoveries  many  striking  con 
firmations  of  the  teachings  of  his  own  sacred  books. 
Even  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  which  is  working 
so  remarkable  a  transformation  in  the  treatment  of 
many  branches  of  scientific  knowledge,  is  in  perfect 
harmony  with  Buddhist  thought.1 

1  The  late  Dr  Moule  (a  missionary  bishop  in  China)  observes  that 
in  Buddhism cc  creation  is  unknown  or  frankly  denied.     As  a  substitute 


v.]  THE   WHITE    WAY  117 

The  White  Way  of  Amitabha,  to  which 
reference  was  made  on  a  foregoing  page,  is  a 
subject  which  has  kindled  the  religious  imagination 
of  many  Buddhist  poets  and  artists  in  the  Far 
East.  The  origin  of  the  allegory  is  traced  by 
Japanese  writers  to  the  Chinese  monk  Shan-tao, 
of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  who  did  much  to  make  the 
Amidist  doctrines  popular  among  his  countrymen. 
He  taught  that  between  the  wTorld  of  men  and  the 
Paradise  of  Amitabha  there  flow  two  turbulent 
rivers — one  of  water,  the  other  of  fire.  The  two 
rivers  are  separated  by  the  Pai-tao,  or  White  Way 
— an  extremely  narrow  path  or  bridge  which  must 
be  crossed  by  the  souls  of  the  dead.  The  dangers 
are  so  great  and  the  bridge  so  narrow  that  without 
divine  help  no  wayfaring  soul  could  hope  to 
escape  destruction.  But  at  the  western  extremity 
of  the  bridge,  which  touches  the  shining  coasts 
of  heaven,  stand  the  radiant  figures  of  Amitabha 
and  his  two  great  bodhisats,  by  whose  gracious 
guidance  and  cheering  counsel  the  faithful  pilgrim 
is  enabled  to  defy  the  perils  of  the  White  Way 
and  to  reach  in  safety  the  blissful  shores  where 
his  divine  Saviours  stand  waiting  to  receive 
him.1 

we  find  emanation,  permutation,  evolution  under  the  persistent 
influence  of  the  chain  of  causation."  It  is  as  a  reproachful  critic  that 
the  bishop  makes  this  observation  ;  but  is  there  not,  after  all,  something 
to  be  said  for  the  Buddhist  position  even  as  thus  crudely  stated  ? 

1  The  conception  of  a  road  or  bridge  which  must  be  crossed  by 
the  souls  of  the  dead  is  to  be  met  with  in  many  parts  of  the 
world  and  in  association  with  many  faiths  (see  Hastings,  E.R.JE., 
ii.  852-4). 


118          SCHOOLS  AND  SECTS   IN   CHINA  [CH. 

At  first  sight  the  doctrine  of  a  quasi-material 
Paradise  seems  wholly  irreconcilable  with  that 
theory  of  Nirvana  which  is  usually  associated  with 
orthodox  Buddhism.  If,  indeed,  we  accept  the 
belief  of  many  Western  critics  of  Buddhism  that 
the  goal  of  Buddhist  ambition  is  non-existence, 
and  that  Nirvana  is  practically  equivalent  to,  or 
terminates  in,  annihilation,  then  it  is  only  by  means 
of  a  somewhat  violent  exegesis  that  the  two 
doctrines  can  be  harmonized.  But  this  belief  is 
not  accurate.  According  to  canonical  Buddhism, 
Nirvana  is  a  state  of  blissful  tranquillity  attainable 
in  this  life  (not  necessarily  terminable  in  this  life), 
and  is  conditioned  by  a  passing  away  of  all  egoistic 
lusts  and  cravings.  Buddhism  taught  that  it  was 
only  through  the  persistence  of  these  lusts  and 
cravings  that  the  reincarnations  of  human  karma 
could  take  place,  and  it  necessarily  followed  that 
"  rebirths  "  were  at  an  end  for  the  man  who  had 
attained  Nirvana.  On  his  death  his  false  and 
impermanent  ego  would  be  disintegrated  or  dis 
solved,  for  the  reason  that  this  "  ego "  is  com 
pounded  of  shifting  unrealities  which  only  the 
ignorant  and  unenlightened  mistake  for  permanent 
substance.  In  a  sense,  then,  it  is  true  to  say  that 
the  Buddhist  who  has  attained  Nirvana  cannot 
look  forward  to  a  continuation  of  his  conscious 
individuality  after  death.  But  this  does  not  mean 
that  Nirvana  is  another  name  for  blank  Nothing 
ness,  or  that  the  extinction  of  the  phenomenal  ego 


v.]  NIRVANA  119 

is  equivalent  to  the   annihilation   of  the   real   or 
transcendental  self.1 

We  shall  understand  the  matter  better, 
perhaps,  if  we  compare  the  "  nihilism "  of  certain 
Buddhist  philosophers  in  their  treatment  of  the 
Nirvana  problem  with  the  via  negativa  of  some 
of  the  Gnostic  and  Christian  mystics  in  their 
theorizings  concerning  the  nature  of  the  Deity. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  for  example,  can  tell  us 
what  God  is  not ;  he  cannot  tell  us  what  God  is, 
because  God  transcends  all  that  exists.2  The 
Pseudo-Dionysius,  too,  speaks  of  "  the  absolute 
No-thing  which  is  above  all  existence  "  ;  Basilides 
says  that  no  assertion  can  be  made  about  God, 
because  he  is  nothing  that  can  be  named  ;  and 
much  the  same  doctrines  are  to  be  found  in 
Minucius  Felix,  Justin  Martyr,  Origen,  Maximus 
the  Confessor,  and  John  of  Damascus.  If  Nirvana 
is  "  nothing,"  it  is  only  so  in  a  sense  similar  to  that 

1  See  above,  pp.  48-55.  Prof.  Yoshio  Noda,  himself  a  Japanese 
Buddhist,  describes  Nirvana  (from  the  psychological  point  of  view)'  as 
1  ( the  consciousness  that  supervenes  on  the  negation  of  self.  It  is  thus 
the  absorption  of  the  individual  into  the  Absolute.  ...  In  the  state 
of  Nirvana  there  is  no  separated  self,  no  life  and  death,  consequently 
no  desire,  no  sorrow,  no  fear.  It  is  the  consciousness  of  absolute  peace, 
of  absolute  bliss,  of  absolute  truth.  It  is  salvation  from  the  misery  of 
the  world,  deliverance  from  suffering,  enlightenment,  and  blessedness. 
This  was  the  most  profound  philosophical  thought  ever  presented  to  the 
Japanese  mind"  (The  Quest,  Oct.  1911,  pp.  67-8). 

2  Dr  W.  R.  Inge,  in  Christian  Mysticism,  ed.  1912,  p.  87,  remarks 
that  Clement  "  apparently  objects  to  saying  that  God  is  above  Being, 
but  he  strips  him  of  all  attributes  and  qualities  till  nothing  is  left  but  a 
nameless  point ;  and  this,  too,  he  would  eliminate,  for  a  point  is  a 
numerical  unit,  and  God  is  above  the  idea  of  the  Monad," 


120  SCHOOLS  AND   SECTS   IN   CHINA          [CH. 

in  which  Duns  Scotus  says  of  God  that  he  is 
"  predicateless  Being,  above  all  categories,  and 
therefore  not  improperly  called  Nothing " ; l  and 
the  Buddhist  would  see  no  startling  novelty  in 
that  assertion  of  the  same  Christian  philosopher 
that  "  the  things  which  are  not,  are  far  better  than 
those  which  are." 2  In  Christian  theology  such 
views  as  these  are  traceable  to  Neoplatonism  ;  and 
we  find  them  affecting  the  thought  of  all  who 
came  within  the  range  of  Neoplatonic  influence, 
not  excepting  St  Augustine.  In  Buddhism, 
however,  they  are  associated  with  very  early 
developments  in  its  own  dogmatic  system,  and 
need  be  traced  to  no  source  extraneous  to  Indian 
philosophy.3 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  definitions 
by  negatives  were  not  likely  to  make  a  very 
strong  or  lasting  appeal  to  the  religious  emotions. 
A  Nirvana  which  admittedly  transcended  the 
possibilities  of  positive  description  might  con 
ceivably  bring  a  certain  amount  of  cold  satis 
faction  to  a  philosophic  mind,  but  it  could  not 
be  expected  to  arouse  devotional  exaltation  or 
religious  enthusiasm  in  the  hearts  of  the  lay 

1  A.    S.    Pringle-Pattison.      The   word   used    by  Duns  Scotus   is 
nihilum. 

2  A  flippant  waywardness  may  perhaps  lead  some  of  us  to  call  to 
mind  that  fantastic  Chinese  emperor  who  never  died  because  he  never 
lived. 

3  "  In  the  mystical  concept  of  God,,  as  well  as  in  the  Buddhist  concept 
of  Nirvana^  it   is  precisely  the  inexhaustible  positivity  which  bursts 
through   every   conceptual  form  and  turns  every  determination  into 
an  impossibility"  (Hoffdiug,  quoted  by  James  Ward,  Realm  of  Ends, 
1911,  p.  35). 


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. ___J^5 


THE   WESTERN    HEAVEN. 
(From  Chinese   Woodcut.} 

[See  p.  103.] 


[Facing  p.   izq. 


v.]  SYMBOLS   AND   PARABLES 

masses.1  This  truth  was  fully  recognized  by  the 
Mahayanist  teachers,  who  allowed  and  encouraged 
the  more  ignorant  and  simple-minded  members  of 
their  flock  to  picture  Nirvana  to  themselves  in  the 
form  of  a  Paradise  in  which  the  individual  soul 
is  represented  as  continuing  to  exist  in  a  state  of 
perpetual,  or  at  least  age-long,  blessedness  under 
the  loving  rule  of  the  celestial  Buddha  Amitabha 
and  his  bodhisats.  But  the  enlightened  Amidist 
(especially  if  he  be  a  monk  of  the  Ch'an,  or 
Meditation,  school)  no  more  believes  in  the  literal 
truth  of  the  tales  of  Sukhavati's  lotus-pond,  and 
in  the  personal  and  separate  existences  of  its 
divine  lords,  than  the  educated  Christian  of  to 
day  believes  in  the  real  existence  of  the  winged 
cherubim,  the  golden  crowns  and  white  thrones, 
the  jewelled  streets  and  glassy  seas,  that  characterize 
the  "  bric-a-brac  rococo  heaven,"  as  George  Tyrrell 
called  it,  of  hymnal  and  Apocalypse.  "  These," 
says  the  Christian  priest,  "  are  symbols  of  divine 
truth."  "  Those,"  says  the  Buddhist  monk,  "  are 
parables  of  Buddhahood." 

1  Those  who  complain  of  the  emptiness  of  the  conception  may  be 
reminded  of  Bergson,  Creative  Evolution  pp.  290-314  (Mitchell's  trans. 
1911).      Cf.  Faust,  pt.  ii.  Act  i.  (Latham)— 

' '  But  on,  we'll  plumb  the  Deep,  whate'er  befall, 
For  in  the  Nought  I  trust  to  find  the  All." 


CHAPTER   VI 

PILGRIMAGES    AND    THE    SACRED    HILLS    OF 
BUDDHISM 

IT  was  lately  remarked  by  a  writer  on  China 
that  the  charm  of  this  country,  for  the  jaded 
visitor  from  the  West,  largely  consists  in  the 
impression  which  it  gives  him  that  he  has  been 
carried  magically  backwards  into  the  European 
Middle  Ages.  If  this  be  China's  principal  title 
to  the  homage  of  mankind,  she  seems  to  be  re 
conciling  herself  with  a  light  heart  to  its  speedy 
forfeiture.  Already  "  Old  China "  is  retreating 
to  various  remote  fastnesses  far  off  the  beaten 
tracks  of  commerce  and  travel ;  while  that  section 
of  young  China  which  is  at  present  in  somewhat 
bewildered  and  precarious  possession  of  the 
country's  strategic  centres  seems  to  be  fully 
determined  of  one  thing  only — that  whatever  other 
faults  may  disfigure  its  future  proceedings, 
medievalism  shall  not  be  one  of  them. 

It  may  be  doubted,  after  all,  whether  there 
was  more  than  a  superficial  resemblance  between 
the  China  of  pre-reform  days  and  the  Europe  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  civilizations  of  East  and 
West  had  developed  on  different  lines,  and  social 

122 


CH.  vi.]  CHINESE   CIVILIZATION  123 

conditions  were  in  many  important  respects  pro 
foundly  dissimilar.  On  the  whole,  there  is  strong 
reason  to  believe  that  until  the  inauguration  of 
the  modern  scientific  and  industrial  era  in  Europe, 
the  civilization,  culture,  and  wealth  of  China 
were  on  a  higher  and  grander  scale  than  anything 
that  the  West  could  show ;  but  the  difference 
was  in  kind  as  well  as  in  degree.  Such  is  the 
impression  we  gain  from  a  perusal  of  the  chronicles 
of  Marco  Polo  and  other  early  travellers,  and  even 
from  the  works  of  some  of  the  pioneer  Catholic 
missionaries,  most  of  whom  express  admiration  as 
well  as  wonder  at  the  outstanding  features  of 
Chinese  civilization,  with  the  necessary  exception 
of  the  deplorable  errors  of  the  people  in  the 
matter  of  religious  belief. 

The  traveller  who  finds  much  to  charm  him 
in  what  he  regards  as  the  medievalism  of  China 
is  perhaps  only  giving  unconscious  testimony  to 
feelings  common  to  many  a  harassed  victim  of 
"the  weariness,  the  fever,  and  the  fret"  which  are, 
unfortunately,  part  of  the  price  payable  for  the 
material  advantages  of  twentieth- century  civiliza 
tion.  "The  heir  of  all  the  ages"  sometimes 
gets  a  little  weary  under  the  load  of  his  birth 
right,  and  if  a  kind  destiny  guides  his  pilgrim- 
steps  to  the  Far  East,  he  is  perhaps  sometimes 
tempted  to  ask  whether  it  is  true,  after  all,  that 
fifty  years  of  Europe  are  in  all  respects  to  be 
preferred  to  a  cycle  of  Cathay. 

But   such   questions    as    these    will    soon    be 


124  SACRED  HILLS   OF  BUDDHISM  [CH. 

asked  no  more.  The  Cathay  which  the  English 
poet  had  in  his  mind  is  already  rivalling  the 
West  in  its  headlong  haste  and  desire  for  change. 
The  time  is  not  far  off  when  China's  foreign 
guest  will  point  to  this  or  that  quaint  feature 
of  the  national  life  and  exclaim  with  enthusiasm : 
"  What  a  picturesque  relic  is  this  of  the  grave 
and  courteous  China  of  the  good  old  days ! " 
Will  his  Chinese  host  receive  this  remark  with 
anything  but  chilling  disapproval?  "The  object 
of  your  misdirected  admiration,"  he  may  observe, 
"  is  indeed  a  hideous  survival  from  that  grotesque 
and  barbarous  age  which  was  happily  brought 
to  a  close  by  our  glorious  Revolution." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  specify  which  of  the 
characteristics  of  Old  China  is  likely  to  be 
so  tenacious  of  life  as  to  be  still  in  a  position, 
a  century  hence,  to  excite  either  sympathetic 
interest  or  disdainful  censure.  It  is  a  matter 
of  common  observation,  however,  that  religious 
observances  and  superstitions,  all  the  world  over, 
possess  a  wonderful  vitality  which  enables  them, 
under  the  protection  of  various  disguises,  to 
carry  on  a  more  or  less  maimed  existence  for 
ages  after  they  have  been  formally  discarded. 
This  being  so,  it  is  fairly  safe  to  prophesy  that 
the  old  customs  and  institutions  of  the  Chinese 
which  will  survive  the  longest  will  be  those 
which  possess  some  religious  significance.  Among 
such  customs  is  one  which  is  of  interest  as 
forming  a  link  not  only  with  the  China  of  a 


vi.]  PILGRIMAGES  IN   CHRISTENDOM          125 

very  remote  age,  but  also  with  the  Europe  of 
the  Dark  and  Middle  Ages,  and  even  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  countries  of  to-day. 

The  cult  of  saints  and  martyrs  in  the  West 
is  paralleled  by  the  cult  of  canonized  heroes, 
bodhisattvas,  and  incarnate  divinities  in  the  East. 
In  nearly  all  lands  which  have  reached  a  moder 
ately  high  level  of  religious  development  we 
find  that  a  favourite  mode  of  imploring  the 
favour  of  spiritual  beings  or  of  paying  reverence 
to  the  popular  ideals  of  virtue  and  holiness 
has  been  to  lay  offerings  of  prayer  or  sacrifice 
before  the  images  or  sepulchres  of  the  sanctified 
dead.  Thus  the  performance  of  pilgrimages  is  a 
practice  which  is  associated  with  the  religious 
history  of  nearly  every  civilized  or  semi- 
civilized  country  of  which  we  have  authentic 

record. 

Perhaps  it  might  surprise  some  of  the  devout 

Catholic  pilgrims  of  to-day,  and  still  more  those 
of  a  few  centuries  ago,  if  they  were  told  that 
in  journeying  to  their  favourite  shrine  of  St 
Anne  d'Auray,  or  St  James  of  Compostella,  to 
the  Holy  House  at  Loretto  in  Ancona,  to  the 
apostolic  tombs  at  Rome,  to  the  grave  of  St 
Martin  of  Tours,  to  Cruach  Phadraig  in  the 
west  of  Ireland,  to  La  Salette  in  Dauphine,  or 
to  the  grotto  of  Our  Lady  of  Lourdes,  they 
were  obeying  the  same  imperious  religious  instinct 
as  that  which  sent  the  ancient  Egyptians  to  the 
shrines  of  Sekhet  at  Bubastis,  Isis  at  Busiris, 


126  SACRED  HILLS  OF  BUDDHISM  [OH. 

Apis  at  Memphis,  and  Ammon  at  Thebes.     Greece, 
we  know,  had  her  pilgrimages  to  the  temples  of 
Apollo    at   Delphi    and   Zeus   at   Dodona ;    and, 
indeed,  the   famous  periodical   gatherings   at   the 
Olympic,  Pythian,  Nemean  and  Isthmian  games 
are  believed  to  have  been,  in  origin,  gatherings  of 
religious  pilgrims.     There  was  an  annual  Semitic 
pilgrimage  to  the  temple  of  Ashtoreth  at  Hierapolis. 
Rome,  too,  had  its  pilgrimages   in   Pagan   times 
as  well  as  in   Christian.      Even   in   the   so-called 
New    World    the    invaders    from    Europe   found 
that    pilgrimages    took    place    to    the    shrine    of 
Quetzalcoatl    in     Mexico    and    to    that     of    the 
Sun    at    Cuzco    in    Peru.      The    pilgrimage     to 
Mecca,  as  every  one  knows,  is  a  religious  duty 
incumbent    upon    all    true    Mohammedans ;    but 
Mecca    (which,   indeed,  was   a   holy   place   before 
the   rise   of  Mohammedanism)    is   not   unique   in 
Islam,   for   pilgrims    also    go   in   their   thousands 
to  worship  at  Meshhed  'Ali  in  Nejef  and  at  the 
tomb   of  the   Prophet   at  Medina.     The    Bahaist 
has   already  commenced  to  make  pilgrimages  to 
'Akka    and     Tabriz,    though     his     religion    only 
sprang  into   existence  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
In  India,  the  classic  land  of  pilgrimages,  nearly 
every   racial  and   social  group   has   sacred   places 
of  its  own.     The  list  of  Hindu  pilgrimages  alone, 
in  that  nursery  of  religions,  is  far  from  exhausted 
when  we  have  taken  note  of  the  Panch-kosi  and 
the  five  ghats  of  Benares,  the  temple  of  Vishnu 
at    Badarinath,    and    the    much  -  maligned   shrine 


vi.]  CHINESE   PILGRIMAGES  127 

of  Jagannatha  (Juggernaut)  in  Orissa.1  Even 
enlightened  and  modernized  Japan  still  annually 
sends  forth  untold  numbers  of  pilgrims  to  the 
shrines  of  Ise,  to  the  reputed  grave  of  Jimmu 
Tenno,  to  the  deified  peaks  of  Fuji  and  Ontake, 
and  to  that  holy  hill  of  Koya,  near  Nara,  which 
enshrines  the  relics  of  the  revered  Buddhist 
saint  Kobo. 

China,  then,  is  not  alone  in  being  a  land 
in  which  pilgrimages  have  flourished  in  the  past 
and  continue  to  enjoy  a  great  if  gradually 
diminishing  popularity  to-day.  But  pilgrimages 
in  China  possess  certain  features  of  their  own 
which  make  them  well  worthy  of  special  study, 
and  certainly  no  student  of  Chinese  life  can 
hope  to  arrive  at  a  sympathetic  understanding 
of  existing  religious  conditions  in  China  unless 
he  is  prepared  to  become — if  only  imaginatively — 
a  member  of  one  of  those  merit -making  (and 
merry-making)  bands  of  pilgrims  who  annually 
traverse  the  plains  of  China  on  their  way  to 
the  Sacred  Hills  and  the  wonder-working  shrines 
of  pusas  and  "  immortals." 

When  the  Reformers  in  sixteenth  -  century 
Europe  condemned  the  cult  of  saints  as  super 
stitious  or  idolatrous,  pilgrimages  naturally  fell 
into  disrepute  among  the  peoples  that  accepted 
Protestant  principles,  and  it  is  now  only  the 
Catholic  countries  in  which  we  may  still  witness 

1  It  has  been  proved  that  there  is  no  truth  in  the  hideous  stories  of 
the  mangling  of  pilgrims  under  the  "  Car  of  Juggernaut. " 


128  SACRED   HILLS  OF  BUDDHISM  [OH. 

scenes  comparable  with  the  religious  pilgrimages 
of  Eastern  lands.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  though 
the  Puritan  -  Protestants  discouraged  pilgrimages 
on  principle,  it  was  none  the  less  a  brave  little 
band  of  Puritans  that  made  the  most  momentous 
of  all  pilgrimages  recorded  in  history.  But  it 
was  not  to  visit  an  old  shrine  that  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  crossed  the  wide  Atlantic :  it  was  to 
found  a  new  one, 

In  the  far-off  "  ages  of  faith "  the  pilgrims  of 
Europe  were  of  many  classes.  Conspicuous 
among  them  was  the  sandalled  palmer,  whom 
most  of  us  now  regard  only  through  the  filmy 
haze  of  romance.  We  think  of  him,  perhaps,  as 
a  travel-worn  wanderer  who  appeared  from  time 
to  time  before  the  raised  drawbridge  of  some 
moated  castle,  bringing  tidings  to  its  lonely  lady 
of  her  lord's  heroic  deeds  and  piteous  death 
upon  the  crimson  plains  of  Palestine.  The 
crusaders  themselves,  indeed,  were  pilgrims  as 
well  as  soldiers.  Perhaps  this  type  of  pilgrim 
was  inclined  to  be  more  truculent  and  masterful 
than  the  patient  disciple  of  Christ  should  be  ;  but 
such  characteristics  were  hardly  to  be  wondered 
at  in  men  whose  lot  was  cast  in  a  bellicose 
world,  and  in  whom  religious  devotion  was 
tempered  by  martial  ambition.  We  of  British 
race  have  had  palm-bearing  wanderers  among 
our  ancestors,  and  sword-bearing  crusaders  too, 
as  many  coats-armorial  in  our  village-churches 
and  manor-houses  still  remain  to  testify.  But  if 


vi.]  THE   CANTERBURY  TALES  129 

pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  whether 
warlike  or  peaceful,  were  beyond  either  the  hope 
or  the  ambition  of  the  masses  of  our  people, 
there  were  always  multitudes  of  pilgrimages  in 
which  even  the  poor  could  take  part  without 
having  to  leave  their  native  shores.  Pilgrim- 
shrines  existed  in  large  numbers  all  over  England 
and  southern  Scotland :  no  fewer  than  thirty-eight 
of  them  were  to  be  found  in  a  single  English 
shire.1  That  Englishmen  entered  upon  such 
pilgrimages  with  all  the  zest  of  their  fellow- 
Christians  on  the  Continent  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt;  and  the  fact  that  such  undertakings  were 
a  source  of  delight  (not  always  of  an  exclusively 
spiritual  kind)  to  those  who  took  part  in  them 
will  not  be  disputed  by  any  one  who  has  imbibed 
the  spirit  of  the  Canterbury  Tales. 

The  main  source  of  the  popularity  and  vitality 
of  ordinary  religious  pilgrimages  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  seems  to  be  this — that  they  are  among 
the  few  mundane  activities  in  which  keen  physical 
and  mental  enjoyment  may  co  -  exist  with  an 
exhilarating  sense  of  religious  fulfilment.  Very 
early  in  life  we  all  make  the  rather  dismal  discovery 
that  duty  does  not  always  coincide  with  pleasure, 
and  that  the  things  which  are  alleged  to  be  good 
for  us  are  seldom  the  things  we  like  best.  But  he 
who  assumes  the  script  and  staff  of  the  conscientious 

1  This   was    Norfolk.      See    Sidney  Heath's  Pilgrim  Life  in  the 
Middle  Ages, 


ISO  SACRED   HILLS   OF  BUDDHISM  [CH. 

pilgrim  has  no  qualms  about  any  possible  conflict 
between  the  pleasant  and  the  good.  Provided 
only  that  he  possesses  enough  worldliness  to  make 
him  heartily  responsive  to  beautiful  sights  and 
sounds  and  the  joys  that  accompany  a  relaxation 
from  the  routine  of  daily  toil  or  business,  and 
enough  spirituality  to  make  him  appreciative  of 
the  religious  significance  of  his  pilgrimage,  he  will 
find  himself  in  the  fortunate  position  of  being 
able  to  gratify  soul,  mind,  and  body  all  at  the  same 
time.  Travel  has  been  aptly  described  as  "a 
perfect  epitome  of  life,"  because  it  presents  to  us 
an  infinite  fluidity  of  circumstances  and  demands 
from  us  an  equal  flexibility  of  character.1  If 
applicable  to  travel  in  general,  these  words  are 
pre-eminently  true  of  the  religious  pilgrimage. 

No  doubt  there  were  many  abuses  connected 
with  pilgrimages,  abuses  which  in  Christendom 
sometimes  assumed  so  serious  a  character  that 
princes  and  bishops  were  occasionally  obliged,  in 
the  interests  of  public  and  private  morality,  to 
recommend  the  intending  pilgrim  to  stay  at  home 
and  to  "  expend  the  sum  thou  hast  gathered  for 
the  journey  on  the  support  of  the  poor."  Even 
saints  (unconscious,  perhaps,  of  the  reverence  with 
which  their  own  mortal  remains  might  be  regarded 
by  the  pilgrims  of  a  later  age)  have  been  known  to 
express  disapproval  of  pilgrimages.  One  of  these 
was  St  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  who  in  the  fourth 
century  wrote  a  letter  de  euntibus  Hierosolyma,  in 

1  See  The  Spectator  (13th  July  1912), 


vi.]  RELIGIOUS   FANATICISM  131 

which  he  expressed  himself  on  the  subject  with  no 
uncertain  voice.  In  both  East  and  West,  more 
over,  there  have  been  cases  in  which  pilgrimages 
of  a  painful  and  excessively  arduous  kind  were 
undertaken  in  consequence  of  a  vow,  or  by  way  of 
penance,  or  in  accordance  with  the  gloomy  tenets 
of  a  semi- savage  code  of  religious  ethics.  Thus 
in  both  Europe  and  Asia  we  hear  of  self-inflicted 
agonies  caused  by  spiked  shirts,  iron  chains  and 
girdles,  terrible  lacerations  of  the  body,  deliberate 
self-torture  of  almost  every  imaginable  kind.  In 
many  well-authenticated  cases  in  the  East  we 
read  of  pilgrimages  that  ended  in  the  wilful  self- 
destruction  of  hapless  and  ignorant  pilgrim- 
devotees.  There  are  she-shen-yai,  or  Suicide  Cliffs, 
at  the  summits  of  some  of  the  holy  mountains  of 
China ;  and  the  name  given  to  these  precipices 
is  significant,  not  of  a  grotesque  fancy  in  nomen 
clature,  but  of  a  grim  tragical  reality.  Yet  there 
is  nothing  in  the  theory  of  pilgrimages  to  coun 
tenance  a  loose  morality  or  a  morbid  fanaticism. 
Manifestations  of  religious  frenzy  are  not  peculiar 
to  pilgrims.  Far  oftener,  indeed,  they  accompany 
the  psychological  eccentricities  of  the  solitary 
mystic  and  the  cave-dwelling  hermit — just  as  it  is 
these,  too,  who  have  been  most  fiercely  assailed 
by  the  devils  of  human  passion. 

From  many  points  of  view  the  Protestant 
reformers  of  Christendom  did  right  in  suppressing 
pilgrimages  in  north-western  Europe.  Yet  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  change  involved  losses 


132  SACRED   HILLS  OF  BUDDHISM  [OH. 

as  well  as  gains.  Moreover,  in  this  as  in  many 
other  matters,  the  zeal  of  the  reformers  led  them 
into  the  delusion  that  human  nature  was  soft  clay, 
and  that  they  alone  were  the  potters  who  had  the 
power  and  the  right  to  mould  it  into  new  shapes. 
Pilgrimages  might  be  suppressed,  but  the  pilgrim- 
instinct,  if  we  may  call  it  so,  survives  to  this  day, 
though  it  has  become  secular  rather  than  religious 
in  its  aims,  and  tends  to  identify  itself  in  many 
cases  with  the  "  globe-trotting "  instinct.  It  is 
perhaps  the  Positivists,  in  their  reverent  visits  to 
the  places  associated  with  the  lives  of  the  "  saints 
of  humanity  "  (as  distinct  from  the  saints  of  the 
Catholic  Church),  who  are  the  best  representatives 
of  the  pilgrims  of  medieval  Europe.  Most  of  us, 
indeed,  are  pilgrims  still,  though  instead  of  seeking 
the  tomb  of  a  saint  we  now  direct  our  pilgrim-steps 
towards  shrines  of  another  kind — the  most  popular 
of  all,  it  is  to  be  feared,  being  the  shrine  that  is 
consecrated  to  that  nomen  daemonis — Mammon. 

In  Chaucer's  age  the  most  popular  months  for 
pilgrimages  were  April  and  May  —  the  period 
of  the  year  that  has  been  always  greeted  with 
exuberant  delight  by  the  poets  of  England. 
"  Then  longen  folk  to  goon  on  pilgrimages" — not 
necessarily,  indeed,  because  the  lamp  of  piety  then 
burned  more  brightly  in  their  souls  than  at  other 
times,  though  doubtless  this  was  often  the  case 
too,  but  rather  because,  as  our  poet  so  well  divined, 
Nature  then  "  pricked  their  hearts  "  with  a  longing 
for  the  open  air  and  all  the  sweetness  of  an  English 


VL]  PILGRIM-SEASONS  135 

spring  ;  because  April  with  its  fragrant  showers, 
and  the  west  wind  with  its  warm  breath,  had  driven 
away  the  last  signs  of  the  torpor  and  gloom  of  an 
English  winter ;  because  "  tender  fowles  maken 
melodye "  to  welcome  the  birth  of  summer,  and 
had  a  glad  song  for  the  welcoming  of  man,  too, 
if  only  man  would  come  out  under  the  blue  sky 
to  hear  it. 

In  the  Far  East,  as  in  fourteenth  -  century 
England,  there  are  "pilgrim-seasons."  In  Japan 
the  blossoming  of  the  plum  and  cherry  in  spring 
and  the  tinting  of  the  maple-leaf  in  autumn  are 
signals  that  send  young  and  old  out  to  the  hills 
and  woodlands,  and  it  is  at  these  seasons  that 
the  roads  to  the  popular  shrines  of  Shinto  and 
Buddhism  are  worn  smooth  by  pilgrim-feet.  In 
China,  where  the  diversities  of  climate  are  greater, 
and  the  competing  shrines  far  more  numerous  and 
widely-scattered,  the  seasons  for  pilgrimages  vary 
with  local  climatic  conditions.  It  is  fitting  that 
the  sacred  peaks  of  the  lofty  mountains  of  north 
and  west  should  be  the  pilgrim's  goal  during  the 
scorching  summer,  and  that  the  shrines  and  temples 
in  the  tropical  and  sub-tropical  southern  provinces 
should  receive  their  meed  of  homage  during  the 
winter. 

No  attempt  can  be  made  in  these  pages  to 
enumerate  and  describe  all  the  great  pilgrim-centres 
of  China,  for  we  should  have  to  deal  with  the 
sacred  places  not  of  one  religion  only,  but  of 
three.  The  places  of  pilgrimage  recognized  by  the 


134,  SACRED   HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

devotees  of  the  heterogeneous  system  of  Taoism 
are  so  numerous  that  a  mere  catalogue  of  them 
would  fill  several  pages.  Conspicuous  among 
them  are  the  Wu  Yo,  or  Five  Sacred  Hills,  the 
sanctity  of  which  is  indeed  of  pre-Taoist  date  but 
has  come  to  be  associated  with  Taoist  develop 
ments.  Of  Confucianists,  as  such,  it  can  hardly 
be  said  that  they  are  in  the  habit  of  travelling  in 
the  guise  of  religious  pilgrims,  because  the  cult  of 
the  canonized  Confucius,  as  distinct  from  Con 
fucianism  as  a  rule  of  life  and  code  of  moral  law, 
is  not  a  cult  which  requires  or  expects  the  religious 
co-operation  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  The 
Confucian  worship  is  (or  was)  a  part  of  the  State 
ritual,  and  was  conducted  by  the  emperor  and  his 
delegates  in  their  official  or  priestly  capacity.1 
Yet  there  are  certain  holy  places  in  China  which, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  visited  by  thousands  of 
professing  Confucianists  every  year,  and  which 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be  visited  by  Chinese 
and  foreigners  of  every  creed  long  after  the 
Confucian  system  has  ceased  to  occupy  in  China 
a  position  of  semi-religious  pre-eminence.  The 
most  important  of  these  places  are  to  be  found 
within  a  radius  of  a  few  miles,  in  a  south-western 
corner  of  the  province  of  Shantung.  They  consist 
of  the  grave  of  the  famous  Duke  of  Chou,  whose 
saintliness  was  such  as  to  haunt  Confucius — 
according  to  a  well-known  anecdote — even  in  his 
dreams ;  the  temple  and  tomb  of  Mencius,  and 

1  See  above,  pp.   10-11. 


vi.]      CONFUCIAN    AND   BUDDHIST   SHRINES    135 

the  grave  of  Mencius's  mother — the  Chinese  model 
of  what  a  good  mother  should  be ;  the  splendid 
temple  to  Confucius  himself,  within  the  walls  of 
his  own  venerable  city  of  Ch'ii-fou,  which  to  this 
day  is  chiefly  populated  by  men  of  his  own  clan 
and  surname,  and  within  which  resides  the  ducal 
representative  of  the  seventy  -  sixth  generation  of 
his  direct  descendants ;  and,  lastly,  the  great  sage's 
own  grave,  situated  in  one  of  the  most  beauti 
ful  and  impressive  cemeteries  in  the  world.  In 
addition  to  the  sacred  places  of  Taoism  and  Con 
fucianism,  China  possesses  innumerable  shrines  of 
Buddhism,  and  it  is  with  these,  or  rather  with  a 
few  of  the  most  famous  and  important  of  them, 
that  we  shall  be  mainly  occupied  in  the  later 
chapters  of  this  book. 

There  are  various  theories  held  by  the  Chinese 
as  to  the  date  at  which  Buddhism  entered  their 
country.  The  truth  of  the  matter  probably  is  that 
it  had  to  be  introduced  on  several  different 
occasions  before  it  succeeded  in  gaining  a  firm 
foothold.  As  we  have  seen,1  there  is  some  reason 
to  believe  that  the  religion  first  reached  China 
in  the  third  century  B.C.,  possibly  as  a  result  of  the 
missions  sent  out  from  India  by  Asoka,  but  that 
it  speedily  disappeared  under  the  discouraging 
influence  of  the  book-burning  and  wall-building 
emperor  Ch'in  Shih-huang.  The  next  attempt 
of  Buddhism  to  enter  China  seems  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  year  2  B.C.  In  that  year  a 

1  See  pp.  22-3. 


136  SACRED   HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

Chinese  embassy  was  sent  to  the  Yiieh-chih,  or 
Indo-Scythians.1  The  king  of  the  Yiieh-chih, 
whose  Buddhism  must  have  been  of  a  hetero 
geneous  type,  is  said  to  have  ordered  his  son, 
the  prince-royal,  to  instruct  the  Chinese  envoys 
in  the  Buddhist  scriptures,  in  order  that  on  their 
return  to  China  these  envoys  might  act  as 
missionaries  of  the  "true  religion."  But  Chinese 
Buddhists  do  not  attach  much  importance  to  these 
stories.  According  to  the  popular  account,  the 
beginnings  of  the  continuous  history  of  Buddhism 
in  China  are  associated  with  the  reign  of  the 
Emperor  Ming  Ti,  who,  having  been  visited  in  a 
vision  or  dream  by  a  "  Man  of  gold,"  sent  envoys 
to  Central  Asia  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  our 
era  to  look  for  him.  This  resulted  in  the  arrival 
of  two  Buddhist  missionaries — Kasyapa-Matanga 
and  Gobharana  (in  Chinese,  Mo-t'eng  and  Chu 
Fa-Ian) — who  were  accommodated  at  the  capital 
in  a  building  which  subsequently  became  famous 
as  the  Monastery  of  the  White  Horse. 

Although  these  monks  or  missionaries  made 
a  modest  beginning  of  the  prodigious  task  of 
translating  the  Buddhist  scriptures  into  the 
Chinese  language,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
the  progress  of  the  religion  was  uninterrupted 
from  that  time  forward.  It  was  not  till  about  the 
fourth  century  of  our  era  that  Buddhism  began  to 
emerge  from  obscurity  and  to  occupy  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Chinese  people. 

1  See  p.  23. 


VL]       STRUGGLES   OF  EARLY   BUDDHISM        137 

Confucianism  has  always  been  more  or  less 
hostile  to,  or  severely  critical  of,  the  whole 
Buddhist  system  ;  more  especially  has  it  been  the 
declared  enemy  of  the  Buddhistic  institution  of 
monasticism,  which  with  a  good  deal  of  reason  it 
regards  as  inconsistent  with  a  sound  social  ethic. 
Most  of  the  persecutions  undergone  by  Buddhism, 
therefore,  have  been  initiated  by  Confucian  state 
craft.1  But  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  first 
enemies  against  whom  Buddhism  had  to  strive  in 
China  were  not  Confucians,  but  the  priests  of 
Taoism,  who,  as  the  generally  recognized  guardians 
of  occult  secrets,  and  as  adepts  in  demonology 
and  sorcery,  were  jealous  of  the  appearance  of 
a  foreign  doctrine  which  would  or  might  prove  a 
dangerous  rival. 

The  contests  between  Buddhism  and  Taoism 
are  commemorated  in  stories  which  often  remind 
us  of  the  legends  relating  to  the  early  struggles 
in  Europe  between  paganism  and  Christianity. 
The  two  Eastern  religions  seem  to  have  competed 
for  the  royal  favour  in  China  just  as  St  Patrick 
(to  take  one  example)  is  said  to  have  competed 
with  the  Druids  in  Ireland  for  the  favour  of  King 
Loigaire,  each  of  the  contesting  parties  striving 
to  vanquish  its  rival  by  giving  evidence  of  a 
superior  skill  in  the  working  of  miracles.  A  well- 
known  Buddhist  legend  tells  us  how  certain  priests 
of  the  Five  Sacred  Hills 2  submitted  a  memorial 
to  the  throne  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Mo-t'eng 

1  But  see  above,  p.  10.  2  See  p.  134. 


1S8  SACRED   HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

and  Chu  Fa-Ian  in  the  first  century  of  our  era. 
In  this  memorial  the  Taoist  priests  recorded  their 
solemn     protest     against     the     friendly     attitude 
assumed  by  the  emperor  towards  the  religion  of 
the   "  Western   barbarians "   and   reproached    him 
for   his   neglect  of  the   native  wisdom  of  China. 
We  are  willing,  they  said,  that  our  teachings  and 
those   of   the    Buddhists   should    be  put    to    the 
proof.      Take   the    books   of   the    Buddhists   and 
our  own   holy   writings   and   set  them    afire.     If 
theirs  are  consumed,  let  the  barbarians  be  banished  ; 
if  ours  are  burned,  we  are  prepared  to  suffer  death. 
This    suggestion   seems   to   have   appealed    to 
the  emperor's  sense  of  justice.     Elaborate  prepara 
tions   were    made    for    a    public    competition    in 
wizardry  between   the   rival   priesthoods,  and    for 
testing    the   truth    or    falsity   of   their   respective 
teachings  by  submitting  their  sacred  books  to  the 
ordeal  of  fire.     The  Taoist  priests,  we  are  told, 
were  ordinarily  in  possession  of  various  supernormal 
or  spiritualistic  faculties  which  gave  them  control 
over   the  forces  of  nature  and   enabled   them  to 
ride  through  the  air  on  dragons  made  of  straw. 
They  arrived  on  the  scene  of  the  competition  full 
of  confidence  in  themselves  and  full  of  contempt 
for  their  Buddhist  rivals  ;  but  when  the  time  came 
for  a  public  demonstration  of  their  skill  they  were 
horrified   to   find   that   all    their   magical    powers 
had  mysteriously  deserted  them.     Complete  failure 
attended  all  their  efforts  to  produce  what  modern 
spiritists    would    term    "  phenomena " ;     and    no 


VL]  DEFEAT  OF    THE  TAOISTS  139 

sooner  were  their  holy  writings  placed  on  the 
pyre  than  the  flames  attacked  them  with  irreverent 
fury.  One  book  only  was  saved :  this  was  the 
Tao-te-ching,  which  was  snatched  from  the  fire 
by  one  of  the  priests.  The  turn  of  the  Buddhists 
came  next.  Without  hesitation  they  took  their 
images  of  Buddha  and  their  volumes  of  sutras 
and  thrust  them  into  the  midst  of  the  flames. 
There,  in  full  view  of  the  emperor  and  his  court, 
they  remained  absolutely  uninjured,  for  the  flames 
were  miraculously  transformed  into  petals  of  water- 
lilies,  by  which  all  the  books  and  images  were 
enfolded  and  supported.  The  chronicler  concludes 
by  telling  us  that  of  the  vanquished  and  discredited 
Taoists  some  committed  suicide  by  hanging  and 
drowning  themselves,  while  others  shaved  their 
heads  —  which  means  that  they  entered  the 
Buddhist  monkhood.1 

It  is  needless  to  speculate  as  to  whether  there 
is  any  basis  of  fact  in  this  story.  Its  chief  interest 
for  us  lies  in  its  reference  to  the  position  of  the 
Taoists  as  priests  of  the  Five  Sacred  Hills. 
Mountain- worship,  indeed,  had  existed  in  China 
many  centuries  —  possibly  thousands  of  years  — 
before  Taoism  came  into  existence,  or  at  least 
before  it  had  evolved  itself  out  of  its  primeval 

1  Another  account  says  that  the  Taoists  fell  dead  in  the  presence 
of  the  assembled  company.  There  are  several  versions  of  the  story  of 
the  contest  between  the  Taoists  and  Buddhists.  That  followed  in  the 
text  is  taken  from  a  commentator's  notes  to  a  Ming  dynasty  edition  of 
The  Sutra  of  Forty-two  Sections— the  work  which  was  translated  by  the 
pioneer-missionaries  Mo-tfeng  and  Chu  Fa-Ian  (B.N.  678,  Har.  xxiv.  vol. 
v.  pp.  1-2  ;  see  also  B.N.  1471,  1472). 


140  SACREJD   HILLS  OF  BUDDHISM  [CH. 

nebula.  From  one  of  the  first  pages  of  Chinese 
history,  dealing  with  events  ascribed  to  the  third 
millennium  B.C.,  we  learn  how  the  Emperor  Shun 
made  a  solemn  pilgrimage  to  the  sacred  hills  of 
the  four  quarters^  of  his  empire ;  and  it  is  clearly 
implied  that  in  doing  this  he  was  carrying  out 
state-ceremonies  which  were  part  of  the  religious 
inheritance  of  his  race. 

The  Taoists  were  the  first  to  associate  them 
selves  and  their  traditions  with  the  Wu  Yo,  or 
Five  Sacred  Hills,  but  the  Buddhists  were  not 
disposed  to  allow  their  rivals  to  monopolize 
mountains  in  general.  Buddhism  had  itself 
originated  in  a  land  where  mountain-worship  was 
deeply-rooted,  and  it  has  always  tended  directly 
or  indirectly  to  foster  in  its  adherents  a  strong 
love  of  wild  nature.  It  was  not  through  mere 
imitation  of  Taoism  that  the  Buddhists  began  to 
establish  themselves  on  mountain  -  heights,  but 
rather  in  obedience  to  a  strong  instinct  to  place 
the  sanctuaries  of  Buddha  high  up  amid  the 
solitudes  of  crag  and  forest  and  lonely  ravine, 
far  out  of  reach  of  sights  and  sounds  hurtful 
to  the  serenity  of  souls  that  had  abjured  the 
vanities  of  the  world  and  the  flesh.  Some  of 
the  hermitages  which  they  built  amid  the 
romantic  scenery  of  the  most  beautiful  mountains 
in  China  grew  into  great  and  famous  monasteries, 
and  in  the  days  when  Buddhism  in  China  was 
still  in  what  may  be  called  its  constructive  and 


COLOSSAL  FIGURE  AT   LUNG-MEN,    HONAN. 


COLOSSAL   ROCK-CUT  FIGURES  AT   LUNG-MEN,    HONAN. 
(The  small  figures  are  life-size.) 


vi.]  THE   FOUR   FAMOUS   HILLS  141 

productive  period  (which  closed  about  a  thousand 
years  ago)  such  monasteries  were  thronged  with 
learned  scholars,  translators,  and  religious  phil 
osophers.  So  long  as  Buddhism  remained  a 
power  in  India  there  was  uninterrupted  inter 
course  of  a  most  friendly  and  inspiring  kind 
between  the  great  religious  houses  of  the  two 
countries.  Chinese  pilgrims  spent  years  of  their 
lives  in  visiting  the  holy  land  of  their  faith  and 
in  collecting  and  collating  palm -leaf  manuscripts 
of  the  sacred  siitras.  Natives  of  India,  too,  were 
in  the  habit  of  paying  long  visits  to  the  seats 
of  Buddhist  learning  in  China,  and  many  of 
these  Indian  pilgrims,  having  become  honoured 
residents  in  the  great  Chinese  monasteries, 
collaborated  with  native  monks  in  the  arduous 
work  of  translation  and  exposition. 

Among  the  great  mountain  strongholds  of 
the  Buddhist  faith  in  China  four  emerged  into 
a  position  of  relative  prominence,  especially  as 
objects  of  pilgrimage.  These  are  known  as  the 
Ssu  ta-ming  shan — "  The  Four  Famous  Hills."  1 
They  are  Wu-t'ai-shan  in  the  northern  province 
of  Shansi ;  Omei-shan  in  the  western  province 
of  Ssuch'uan  ;  Chiu  -  hua  -  shan  in  the  central 
province  of  Anhui ;  and  Puto-shan  off  the  east 
coast  of  the  province  of  Chehkiang.  Of  Omei- 
shan  we  shall  have  little  to  say  in  these  pages, 
for  it  has  already  been  fully  described  for 

1  Lion  and  Dragon  in  Northern  China,  p.  394. 


142  SACRED  HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

English  readers.1  The  position  of  Wu-t'ai  is 
somewhat  exceptional,  for  this  mountain  has  to 
a  great  extent  become  a  seat  of  Mongol  Lamaism. 
It  is  mainly  to  the  shrines  of  the  remaining  two, 
Chiu-hua  and  Puto,  that  the  reader's  attention 
will  be  directed  in  the  following  chapters. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  difficult  to  understand 
why  the  four  mountains  just  named  were 
singled  out  for  exceptional  distinction,  especially 
when  we  remember  that  there  were  other  groups 
of  mountain  -  monasteries  which  were  no  less 
celebrated  as  centres  of  Buddhist  light  and 
learning.  The  abbots  of  the  monasteries  of  the 
Four  Famous  Hills  have  no  control,  customary 
or  statutory,  over  the  abbots  of  other  Buddhist 
establishments,  nor  does  their  position  carry  with 
it  any  dignity  to  which  other  abbots  may  not 
aspire.  Only  a  restricted  number  of  monasteries 
in  China  possess  the  right  of  granting  ordination, 
but  the  monasteries  of  the  Four  Hills  are  not 
exclusively  favoured  in  this  respect.  Some 
establishments,  again,  are  distinguished  as  having 
been  the  centre  of  some  important  movement 
in  Buddhist  history,  or  as  having  sheltered  a 
monk  or  group  of  monks  who  founded  a  new 
sect  or  school ;  but  these  are  to  be  found  on 
many  mountains  other  than  the  privileged  Four. 

Thus  we  are  obliged  to  conclude  that  the 
rank  or  precedence  accorded  by  common  consent 

1  See  A.   Little,  Mount  Omi  and  Beyond,  the  present  writer,,  From 
Peking  to  Manda/ay,  and  Miss  E.  Kendall,  A  Wayfarer  in  Ohina. 


vi.]  HILLS   SACRED  TO   BUDDHISM  143 

to  the  Famous  Hills  belongs  to  the  mountains 
themselves,  irrespective  of  the  fame  of  the 
numerous  religious  houses  perched  on  their 
slopes.  Though  the  Buddhists  did  not  require 
to  go  to  the  Taoists  to  he  taught  a  love  of 
mountains,  it  seems  likely  enough  that  it  was 
in  imitation  of  the  Taoist  or  pre-Taoist  classifica 
tion  of  Four  (afterwards  Five)  Sacred  Mountains 
that  the  Buddhists  resolved  to  create  a  kind  of 
nobility  or  aristocratic  pre-eminence  for  certain 
favourite  mountains  of  their  own.  The  history 
of  the  Wu  Yo  goes  back  for  thousands  of  years— 
indeed  four  of  the  five  peaks  were  regarded  with 
religious  veneration  at  a  period  anterior  to  the 
earliest  days  of  which  we  have  written  record. 
The  four  famous  hills  of  Buddhism  can  lay 
claim  to  no  such  antiquity.  Two  of  the 
number — Wu-t'ai  and  Omei — are  associated  by 
history  and  legend  with  the  beginnings  of 
Buddhism  in  China ;  but  the  other  two — Chiu- 
hua  and  Puto — did  not  come  into  prominence 
until  Buddhist  prosperity  in  China  had  already 
reached  and  passed  its  climax.  Of  the  sacred  isle 
of  Puto  we  hear  little  until  we  reach  the  closing 
years  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  and  its  Buddhist 
associations  cannot  be  proved  to  be  much  more 
than  a  thousand  years  old.  Chiu-hua  has  had  a 
longer  monastic  history  than  Puto,  but  it  was 
not  included  in  the  category  of  "  Famous " 
Buddhist  mountains  until  a  date  that  was  sub 
sequent  even  to  that  of  the  inclusion  of  Puto, 


144  SACRED   HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

But  the  two  questions  are  still  unanswered — 
as  to  why  the  Buddhistic  writers  of  the  Sung 
dynasty  should  have  finally  decided  upon  four 
as  the  proper  number  of  "Famous  Hills,"  and 
why  the  four  selected  for  elevation  to  this 
peerage  of  mountains  should  have  been  Wu-t'ai, 
Omei,  Puto,  and  Chiu-hua.  With  regard  to 
the  first  question,  it  seems  clear  that  the  number 
was  chosen  in  order  to  establish  what  might 
be  called  four  corner  -  stones  of  the  Buddhist 
faith  in  China  and  to  bring  them  into  mystical 
association  with  the  four  cosmogonical  "ele 
ments  "  which,  according  to  the  ancient  Hindu 
philosophy  adopted  by  Buddhism,  are  concerned 
in  the  alternating  processes  of  construction  and 
dissolution  through  which  the  whole  phenomenal 
universe  is  continually  passing.  These  four  so- 
called  "  elements "  were  wind  or  air,  water,  fire, 
and  earth.1  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  go  into 
the  interesting  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
system  of  cosmogony  of  which  this  "  great  ele 
ment"  or  mahdbhuta  theory  forms  a  part.  Its 
antiquity  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  it  was 
adopted,  with  or  without  modification,  by  some 
of  the  earliest  Greek  speculators  in  physics. 

1  Feng,  Huo,  Shui,  Ti.  According  to  another  Chinese  classification  of 
the  (C  elements/'  they  were  five  in  number,  and  consisted  of  metal, 
water,  fire,  vegetable  matter,  and  earth  (Chin,  Shui,  Huo,  Mu,  T'u). 
These  are  the  Wu  hsing,  or  "five  elements,"  mentioned  in  the 
Historical  Classic  (Shu  Ching).  They  occupied  a  prominent  place 
in  the  semi-mystical  system  of  the  Taoists  of  the  Han  dynasty,  and 
were  the  subject  of  much  theorizing  on  the  part  of  the  orthodox 
Chinese  philosophy  of  the  Sung  period. 


vi.]  THE   FOUR   ELEMENTS  145 

That    the    intention    was    to    connect    the    Four 
Hills   of  Buddhism  with  the   Four   Elements   is 
no    mere    guess ;    for    it    is    explicitly    stated    by 
Chinese  writers  on  the  subject  of  these  mountains 
that  Wu-t'ai  is  associated  with  the  element  Air, 
Omei  with  Fire,  Puto  with  Water,  and  Chiu-hua 
with    Earth.     These   pairs    were    not   selected   at 
random.      Wu-t'ai    stands    appropriately   for   the 
element  Air,  which   in   this    connexion   is   repre 
sented  in  the   Chinese    language   by   a   character 
commonly    used    to     denote    Wind.       Omei    is 
situated     in     the     warm     region     of     Southern 
Ssuch'uan :    what  more   fitting   "  element "   could 
be   chosen    for    it  than    Fire  ?     Puto    is    entirely 
surrounded    by    the    sea :     it    is    obviously    the 
region    of    the    element    Water.       Chiu  -  hua    is 
sacred  to  a  bodhisat  or  saint  whose  works  of  mercy 
are  associated  with  the  Buddhist  "hells."     These 
regions  are  supposed  by  the  ignorant  to  be  situated 
somewhere  under  the  earth,  and  are  known  to  the 
Chinese  by  a  word  (ti-yu)  which  signifies  "  earth- 
prison."     It   is   clear   that   the   element    correctly 
associated  with  Chiu-hua  must  be  ti — Earth. 

As  to  the  second  question — why  these  hills, 
rather  than  any  others,  were  honoured  with  the 
distinctive  epithet  of  "  Famous  " — it  may  be  said 
at  once  that  their  mere  altitude  had  very  little 
to  do  with  the  matter.  Wu-t'ai  and  Omei, 
indeed,  are  among  the  loftiest  hills  in  China, 
if  we  rule  out  the  vast  ranges  of  the  extreme 

K 


146  SACRED   HILLS   OF   BUDDHISM  [CH. 

west,  which  geographically  belong  to  Tibet 
and  Turkestan ;  but  Chiu-hua  is  of  no  excep 
tional  height,  and  Puto  barely  reaches  even  the 
modest  elevation  of  a  thousand  feet.  The  matter 
was  simply  determined  by  a  desire  to  place  a 
physical  pillar  of  Buddhism  at  each  of  the  four 
points  of  the  compass.  It  is  certain  that  the 
Wu  Yo  were  chosen  as  sacred  mountains  on 
account  of  their  positions  in  the  north,  south, 
east,  west,  and  central  regions  of  the  China  of 
classical  or  pre-classical  antiquity.  Similarly,  it 
was  considered  fitting  that  the  four  mountain- 
pillars  of  Buddhism  should  occupy  positions 
which  would  justify  their  assuming  the  duties 
of  wardens  and  protectors  of  religous  interests 
in  each  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  empire. 
Wu-t'ai,  therefore,  was  selected  as  the  northern 
mountain,  Omei  as  the  western,  Puto  as  the 
eastern,  and  Chiu-hua  as  the  southern.  It  is 
true  that  Chiu-hua  is  in  the  centre  rather  than 
in  the  south  of  the  China  that  we  know  to-day. 
It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  nearly  all 
the  territory  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Yangtse 
lay  to  the  south  of  the  so-called  "  orthodox " 
states  of  the  China  of  the  Chou  dynasty;  and 
the  pedantic  spirit  of  literary  and  historical 
conservatism  would  prevent  the  Sung  scholars 
from  admitting  that  the  southern  expansion  of 
China  in  the  intervening  centuries  could  render 
obsolete  the  geographical  and  political  demarca 
tions  of  the  classical  epoch. 


vi.]  THE   EIGHT  MOUNTAINS  147 

Another  reason,  and  a  very  important  one,  for 
the  promotion  of  our  four  mountains  to  the 
exclusive  rank  of  "  Famous "  was  that  all  four 
had  already  become  celebrated  in  Buddhistic  lore 
through  their  legendary  association  with  four  of 
those  great  Bodhisats  (or  Pusas,  to  use  the 
ordinary  Chinese  term l )  who  play  so  important  a 
part  in  the  mythological  and  symbolic  system  of 
the  Mahayana.  The  four  in  question  are  Wen-shu, 
P'u-hsien,  Ti-tsang,  and  Kuan  -  yin ;  and  these 
divine  beings  are  the  spiritual  patrons  of  Wu-t'ai, 
Omei,  Chiu-hua,  and  Puto  respectively. 

We  have  now  seen  that  certain  of  the 
numerous  hills  sacred  to  Buddhism  in  China 
have  been  selected  for  promotion  to  a  position 
of  special  honour.  But  there  is  another  category 
of  Buddhist  mountains  which  is  worthy  of 
notice,  if  only  because  it  includes  the  names  of 
certain  monastic  centres  which  are  also  visited  by 
multitudes  of  pilgrims,  and  which,  on  account 
of  their  historical  and  religious  importance, 
would  necessarily  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in 
any  comprehensive  account  of  Buddhism  in 
China.  The  mountains  that  come  within  this 
category  are  eight  in  number  and  are  known  as 
the  Pa-hsiao-ming  slian  —  "Eight  Small  Famous 
Hills  " — to  distinguish  them  from  the  pre-eminent 
Four.  They  are  T'ient'ai,  in  Chehkiang ;  Yiint'ai 
and  Tamao,  in  Kiangsu  ;  Chitsu,  in  Yunnan ;  Wu- 
chih,  in  Kuangtung  (Hainan  island) ;  Ch'iyiin,  in 

1  See  above,  p.  43. 


148  SACRED   HILLS   OF  BUDDHISM         [CH.  VI. 

Anhui ;  Wutang,  in  Hupei ;  and  Wu-i  (Bohea 
Hills),  in  Fuhkien.  Some  of  these  (Tamao  and 
Wutang,  for  example)  are  celebrated  in  the  annals 
of  Taoism  no  less  than  in  those  of  Buddhism. 
The  most  famous  from  the  Buddhist  point  of 
view  are  T'ient'ai,  Wutang,  and  Wu-i ;  but  all  are 
annually  visited  by  numerous  bands  of  worshippers. 

Among  other  holy  mountains  and  monasteries 
which  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the  Buddhistic 
history  of  China  may  be  mentioned  Chiao-shan 
Chin-shan  and  Pao  -  hua,  in  Kiangsu ;  Lofou,  in 
Kuangtang ;  Lu-shan,  in  Kiangsi ;  Yti-wang  and 
T'ien-mu,  in  Chehkiang ;  Ku-shan  in  Fuhkien ; 
Chung-nan,  in  Shensi ;  the  Nan-Yo,  in  Hunan ; 
Miao-feng,  Shang-fang,  and  other  mountains,  in 
Western  Chihli ;  and  the  monasteries  of  Shaolin, 
on  the  Shao-shih  mountain  in  Honan,  Chao-ch'ing 
and  others  on  the  Western  Lake  near  Hangchow, 
and  Ling-yen,  to  the  north-west  of  T'ai-shan,  in 
Shantung. 

When  it  is  realized  that  the  shan-chih,  or 
mountain-chronicles  of  China,  would  alone  con 
stitute  a  library  of  thousands  of  volumes,  it  will 
be  understood  that  the  subject  is  not  one  that  can 
receive  exhaustive  treatment  in  the  narrow  limits 
of  a  single  book.  In  devoting  special  attention, 
in  later  chapters,  to  two  of  the  Four  Famous  Hills, 
we  shall  be  only  touching  the  fringe  of  a  subject 
which  is  well  worthy  of  far  closer  attention  than 
it  has  hitherto  received  from  students  of  the 
religious  and  artistic  sides  of  Chinese  culture. 


CHAPTER  VII 


"  THE  PILGRIM'S  GUIDE  " 


THE  Chinese  pilgrim  to  the  holy  mountains 
does  not,  as  a  rule,  tread  the  pilgrim-path  in 
solitude  unless  he  is  fulfilling  a,  special  vow. 
Pilgrims  form  themselves  into  bands  of  comrades, 
who  tramp  together  day  by  day,  stop  at  the 
same  inns,  keep  a  common  purse,  and  discharge 
the  religious  duties  of  the  pilgrimage  under  the 
guidance  of  a  selected  leader.  Many  such  groups 
are  composed  of  subscribers  to  a  pilgrim-fund, 
from  which  a  certain  sum  is  drawn  each  year 
and  allocated  to  a  restricted  number  of  sub 
scribers  selected  by  lot ;  others  are  composed  of 
fellow-villagers,  personal  friends,  or  members  of 
the  same  trading  guild,  who  unite  their  forces  with 
a  view  to  mutual  convenience  and  protection. 

These  remarks,  however,  are  chiefly  applicable 
to  lay-pilgrims.  We  must  also  take  into  account 
the  numerous  pilgrims  who  are  ordained  members 
of  the  Buddhist  monkhood.  Such  persons  are 
able  to  travel  from  mountain  to  mountain 
with  greater  comfort  and  security  than  laymen, 
for  their  chieh-tieh,  or  certificates  of  ordination — 

149 


150  "THE  PILGRIM'S  GUIDE"  [CH. 

which  they  always  carry  with  them  on  such 
occasions — entitle  them  to  food  and  lodging  at 
the  various  monasteries  that  lie  along  their  route. 
Monks,  too,  are  better  able  than  laymen  to 
benefit  by  the  accumulated  experience  of  the 
past,  for  many  travelled  monks  have  furnished 
their  own  monasteries  with  detailed  information 
as  to  the  best  means  of  journeying  from  one 
shrine  to  another. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe  there  existed 
a  class  of  literature  specially  designed  to  provide 
Christian  pilgrims  with  information  of  both  a 
sacred  and  a  secular  character  concerning  the 
routes  they  were  to  follow  and  the  shrines  at 
which  they  were  to  bend  the  knee  and  open 
the  purse.  If  there  were  no  Murray  s  or 
Baedekers  in  those  days,  there  were  numerous 
Itineraria  which  seem  to  have  been  equally 
well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  their  time.  One 
such  book,  based  on  a  French  bishop's  journey 
to  the  Holy  Land,  was  written  by  Adamnan, 
abbot  of  lona,  as  early  as  the  seventh  century; 
and  this  was  followed  by  innumerable  treatises 
and  pamphlets  dealing  more  or  less  exhaustively 
with  the  favourite  loci  sanctorum  martyrum. 

The  Buddhists  of  China,  like  the  Christians 
of  Europe,  have  their  Pilgrims'  Handbooks. 
One  of  these  is  a  little  modern  work  named 
Ch'ao  Ssu  Ta-ming  Shan  Lu-yin — "  The  Pilgrim's 
Guide  to  the  Four  Famous  Hills" — which  is 
printed  and  issued  by  the  monks  of  the  monastery 


vii.]  BUDDHISM   IN   PRACTICE  151 

of  Yung-chTian,  on  Ku-shan.1  This  little  com 
pilation  (which  deals  with  many  sanctuaries 
besides  those  of  the  Four  Hills)  is  primarily 
intended  for  the  use  of  monkish  travellers,  but 
Chinese  lay-pilgrims — and  at  least  one  English 
pilgrim  as  well  —  have  found  it  useful  and 
interesting. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  book  consists  of 
a  description  of  routes,  and  with  that  we  need 
not  concern  ourselves  here ;  but  the  preliminary 
part,  which  contains  maxims  and  instructions 
relating  to  matters  of  religion  and  morals  and 
monastic  etiquette,  will  perhaps  be  found  to 
throw  a  welcome  glimmer  of  light  on  the  Chinese 
theory  of  pilgrimages  and  on  the  present  state 
of  popular  Buddhism. 

The  short  preface  urges  the  pilgrim,  in  general 
terms,  to  cultivate  reverent  and  decorous  habits 
of  thought  and  conduct  while  engaged  in  the 
serious  business  of  visiting  the  holy  mountain- 
shrines  of  Buddha.  From  his  mind  all  feelings 
of  vexation,  hatred,  and  ill  -  will  must  be 
eradicated.  Gentleness  and  compassion  and 
humility  of  spirit  must  be  his  guiding  principles. 
When  he  arrives  at  a  shrine  of  Buddha  let 
him  bow  his  head  and  in  due  reverence  worship 
the  Three  Holy  Ones — the  Buddha,  the  Law  of 
Buddha,  and  the  Company  of  the  Saints.2  Let 

1  See  p.  148.     This  mountain  overlooks  the  city  of  Foochow. 

2  In  early  Buddhism  the  Three   Holy  or  Blessed  Ones   are  the 
Buddha,    the    Law    preached    by   the   Buddha,,    and    the    Order,,    or 
company,  of  those   who   have  entered   upon   the  "eight-fold  path" 


152  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

him  extirpate  all  thoughts  of  worldly  ambition 
and  personal  gain ;  let  him  wholly  cease  from 
eovetousness  and  selfish  anger. 

The  preface  is  followed  by  a  page  contain 
ing  four  precepts :  Hold  written  characters  in 
respect ;  Regard  all  living  things  with  love  and 
pity ;  Keep  your  mind  free  from  evil  thoughts ; 
Let  your  mind  be  directed  unswervingly  towards 
Buddha.  By  observing  these  precepts  you  will 
enjoy  good  health,  spiritual  and  physical ;  you 
will  enjoy  a  prosperous  and  respected  old  age ; 
you  will  not  be  contaminated  by  the  foulness  of 
the  world ;  and  heaven  will  be  your  final 
reward. 

The  first  of  the  four  precepts  is  Confucian 
rather  than  Buddhistic.  The  prevalence  of  this 
characteristically  Chinese  notion  as  to  the  sanctity  of 
written  characters  is  well  known.  It  is  considered 
wrong  to  misuse  any  paper  that  bears  written 
or  printed  ideographs.  These  are  the  symbols 
which  conserve  the  great  thoughts  and  teachings 
of  the  wise,  and  they  are  therefore  to  be  held 
sacred.  The  second  injunction  is  thoroughly 
Buddhistic.  Love  and  kindness  must  be  shown 


that  leads  to  Nirvana.  These  are  the  " Three  Refuges"  of  the 
ordained  monk — Buddha,,  Dhamma  (Sanskrit  Dharma),  and  Sangha. 
In  the  Mahayana  system  the  Three  Blessed  Ones  are  ' f  the  same  with 
a  difference  " — namely  :  (1)  The  whole  company  of  Buddhas  ;  (2)  the 
Sons  of  the  Buddhas — the  bodhisattvas  and  all  men  of  good-will 
who  aim  at  the  salvation  of  the  world  and  the  final  attainment  of 
Buddhahood  ;  (3)  the  Dharmakaya,  or  Body  of  the  Law,  which  con 
tains  the  essence  of  all  the  wisdom  of  all  the  Buddhas  (see 
above,  p.  77). 


ROCK-CUT   COLOSSAL   FIGURE   OF  A   BODHISAT 
AT   LUNG-MEN,    HONAN. 


{Facing  -b.   152. 


VIL]  BUDDHIST  TEACHINGS  153 

to  all  beings  that  have  life — not  men  only,  but 
all  kinds  of  animals.  This  is  not,  as  is  sometimes 
supposed,  because  the  bodies  of  the  lower  animals 
may  contain  transmigrated  human  souls.  The 
doctrine  that  all  living  things  should  be  regarded 
with  absolutely  pure  and  unselfish  feelings  of  love 
and  compassion  is  deeply  rooted  in  Buddhist 
ethics.  The  chief  claim  that  the  great  bodhisats 
are  supposed  to  have  upon  the  adoration  and 
gratitude  of  men  is  based  on  the  boundless  charity 
and  pity  extended  by  them  towards  all  things 
that  live.1 

The  third  precept  requires  no  elucidation- 
The  "  heaven  "  referred  to  in  the  fourth  is  literally 
"  the  western  region "  (hsi  fang)  of  the  universe, 
in  which  the  Mahayana  Buddhists  have  placed 
the  Paradise  of  Amitabha  Buddha.  In  popular 
Chinese  Buddhism  it  is  chiefly  through  the  good 
offices  of  the  "  gracious  and  compassionate  "  Kuan- 
yin  ( Ttfu-pei-Kuan-sliih-yin  Pusa)  that  this  heaven 
may  be  reached.2 

Next  follows  a  little  poem  of  four  lines,  which 
may  be  prosaically  rendered  thus  :  "  Better  is  it 
to  live  the  lowly  life  of  a  monk  than  to  return 
again  and  again  to  mundane  vanities  and  illusions. 
The  true  disciple  of  Buddha  has  delivered  himself 
from  all  sensuous  fetters ;  he  who  has  entered  the 
monkhood  no  longer  allows  his  mind  to  be 
occupied  with  the  countless  vain  cares  of  worldly 
life." 

1  See  above,  pp.  77-81.  2  See  pp.  101,,  103. 


154  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

These  lines  perhaps  require  some  expansion  or 
explanation.  It  is  better  to  pursue  the  contem 
plative  life,  says  the  Buddhist,  than  to  condemn 
yourself  to  future  human  lives  of  woe  (through 
metempsychosis)  by  neglecting  the  quest  of  truth 
and  giving  yourself  up  to  worldly  pleasures  and 
ambitions,  The  root  of  all  evil  lies  in  delusion 
and  ignorance.  Until  we  extinguish  the  desires 
that  accompany  or  result  from  ignorance,  we  shall 
continue  to  be  bound  to  the  wheel  of  phenomenal 
existence.  The  perfect  Enlightenment  to  which 
the  Buddhist  aspires  implies  the  complete  removal 
of  all  delusion  concerning  the  apparent  differentia 
tion  of  objective  existences  and  the  annihilation 
of  the  appearances  that  veil  reality.  The  monk 
will  not  allow  his  intellectual  and  moral  energies 
to  be  dissipated  in  futile  strivings  and  longings. 
He  knows  that  the  things  of  this  world  are 
impermanent  and  unreal,  and  that  the  prizes  so 
earnestly  sought  after  by  the  ignorant  and  deluded 
masses  of  mankind  are  nothing,  after  all,  but  mists 
and  shadows. 

In  the  next  pages  of  the  book  emphasis  is 
laid  on  the  dignity  of  the  religious  life,  and 
monks  are  warned  that  those  who  cannot  live 
up  to  the  high  ideals  wrhich  they  profess  should 
withdraw  from  the  monkhood.  The  enlighten 
ment  towards  which  Buddha  pointed  the  way  is 
not  attainable  with  equal  facility  by  all.  There 
are  some  who  devote  their  energies  throughout 
life  to  its  attainment  and  are  not  successful ; 


vii.]  ETIQUETTE   FOR    PILGRIMS  155 

there  are  some  who,  after  a  life-long  struggle,  do 
at  last  succeed ;  and  there  are  some  who  seem  to 
make  no  effort  at  all,  and  yet  the  prize  is  theirs. 
Sakyamuni1  taught  the  good  law  for  forty-nine 
years ;  all  that  his  followers  can  do  is  to  follow 
faithfully  in  his  steps  as  far  as  they  are  able, 
though  they  have  not  been  privileged,  as  Kasyapa 
and  Ananda  were,  to  see  the  Master  face  to 
face. 

Next  comes  a  short  model  dialogue  for  the 
guidance  of  pilgrim-monks  when  they  arrive  at 
a  strange  monastery.  Having  reached  the 
reception-room,  the  visitor,  we  are  told,  should 
deposit  his  bundle  outside  the  door,  go  three 
paces  into  the  room,  and  seat  himself  decorously 
on  half  the  seat  of  a  chair.  It  may  be 
necessary  to  explain  that  in  a  Chinese  guest 
room  the  chairs  are  so  arranged  that  host  and 
guests  may  seat  themselves  in  accordance  with 
the  recognized  rules  of  etiquette.  The  humblest 
seats  are  those  nearest  the  door.  By  going  only 
three  paces  into  the  room,  and  then  seating 
himself,  the  visitor  is  therefore  acting  with  due 
modesty.  The  further  injunction  that  he  is  to 
content  himself  with  half  the  seat  of  a  chair 
is  quite  in  accordance  with  Chinese  propriety. 
A  young  man  in  the  presence  of  an  elderly 
one,  or  a  subordinate  official  in  the  presence 
of  his  superior,  must  (unless  the  meeting  is 

1  Sakyamuni  (Chinese  Shih-chia  Fo)  is  one  of  the  titles  of  Gotama 
the  Buddha— "the  £akya  Sage." 


156  "THE  PILGRIM'S  GUIDE"  [CH. 

quite  informal)  sit  bolt  upright  on  a  corner 
of  his  chair  in  an  attitude  of  respectful 
attention.1 

The  "  Guide "  goes  on  to  inform  the  pilgrim 
that  when  the  chih-k'o  enters  the  room  he  must 
stand  up  and  make  a  ceremonious  bow.  The 
chih-k'o  is  a  member  of  the  monastic  fraternity 
whose  special  duty  it  is  to  receive  guests  and 
offer  them  the  hospitality  of  the  establishment. 
After  the  usual  greetings  the  chih-k'o  and  his 
guest  will  sit  down,  and  the  dialogue  that 
ensues  will  be  somewhat  as  follows.2 

Chih-k'o. — May  I  ask  where  you  have  come 
from? 

Visitor. — I  have  come  from  A . 

Chih-k'o. — May  I  ask  where  is  your  honourable 
monastery  ? 

Visitor. — My  humble  place  of  residence  is  the 
monastery  of  B—  — . 

Chih-k'o. — Have  you  received  the  robe  and 
bowl  ?  [The  outward  signs  of  monkhood  are 
the  robe  and  begging-bowl.] 

Visitor. — I  am  fully  ordained. 

Chih-k'o. — What  sect  do  you  belong  to  ? 

Visitor. — I  belong  to  the  -     -  sect. 

Chih-k'o. — May  I  enquire  what  my  reverend 
brother's  name  is  ? 


1  Mores  mutantur.    The  Chinese  are  rapidly  growing  less  punctilious 
in  these  small  matters. 

2  The  guest  would  be  made  to  take  a  higher  seat  than  that  modestly 
occupied  by  him  at  first  ;  while  the  chih-Jc'o  himself  would  take  one  of 
the  humblest  seats.     This  manoeuvre^  and  also  the  serving  of  the  usual 
cups  of  tea,  would  be  taken  for  granted  by  Chinese  readers. 


VIL]  HOST  AND  GUEST  157 

Visitor. — My  humble  name  is .  [Buddhists 

receive  a  fa-ming,  or  "  name  in  religion,"  when 
they  ch'u-chia — that  is,  when  they  leave  the 
world  and  enter  a  monastery.  Thenceforward 
their  family  and  personal  names  are  ignored.] 

Chih-k'o. — May  I  enquire  what  is  the  name  of 
your  reverend  father-in-religion  ? 

Visitor. — The   name    of    my   father-in-religion 

1  o 

lij     ""          — —  ^ 

Chih-k'o. — May  1  venture  to  ask  what  your 
honourable  business  is  in  this  place,  or  whither 
you  intend  to  proceed  ? 

Visitor.  (If  he  proposes  to  remain  where  he 
is.) — My  intention  is  not  to  go  elsewhere.  I 
have  purposely  come  here  with  the  desire  of 
devoting  myself  to  the  study  of  the  lofty  rules 
and  principles  of  this  monastery.  (If  he  intends 

to  go  elsewhere.} — I  propose  to  go  on  to . 

May  I  ask  you  to  endorse  my  certificate  for  me  ? 
[Monks  on  pilgrimage  receive  certificates  from, 
or  have  their  own  papers  sealed  by,  the  different 
monasteries  which  they  visit,  as  proof  that  they 
have  carried  out  their  task.1] 

Chih-k'o.  —  Certainly.  Have  you  been  here 
before  ? 

Visitor. — This  is  my  first  visit. 

Chih-k'o. — Please  bring  your  papers. 

The  two  then  rise,  and  the  visitor  follows  his 
host  to  an  upper  reception-room,  which  is  also  a 
chapel  and  contains  sacred  images.  Here  the 

1  A  similar  practice  is  in  vogue  in  India^  where  the  priests  in  charge 
of  places  of  pilgrimage  issue  sealed  certificates  to  the  Sadhus  or  wander  - 
ing  Hindu  ascetics. 


158  "THE   PILGRIM'S    GUIDE"  [CH. 

visitor  is  presented  to  two  or  three  of  the  heads 
of  the  various  monastic  departments,  though  he 
does  not  address  them  until  he  has  knelt  in 
prayer  before  Buddha.  When  his  papers  have 
been  sealed  or  endorsed  and  the  time  has  come 
for  him  to  depart,  he  takes  ceremonious  leave  of 
his  hosts,  taking  care  to  adapt  himself  to  cir 
cumstances  as  they  arise.  Perhaps  he  may  be 
presented  to  the  abbot.  In  this  case  his 
demeanour  should  be  scrupulously  modest  and 
reverential. 

The  next  section  of  our  "  Pilgrim's  Guide " 
consists  of  "  Ten  important  subjects  for  reflection 
while  visiting  the  holy  mountains."  These  ten 
subjects  are  discussed  in  a  series  of  miniature 
sermons,  each  of  which  closes  with  the  phrase 
tz'u  nien  wei  yao — "it  behoves  you  to  ponder  on 
these  things."  The  general  sense  of  the  sermons 
is  as  follows  : — 

Firstly,  the  pilgrim  is  told  that  a  journey  to 
the  sacred  hills  will  not  only  foster  habits  of 
reverent  study  and  research,  but  will  also  enable 
him  to  acquire  a  useful  knowledge  of  the  world. 
You,  the  pilgrim,  will  meet  with  varied  experiences, 
some  pleasant  and  others  disagreeable  or  vexatious. 
Should  you  meet  with  unexpected  hardships,  do 
not  be  discouraged.  Regard  your  troubles  as 
dreams  and  illusions,  as  shadows  or  echoes,  as 
things  of  no  substance.  It  should  be  your  en 
deavour  to  find  some  experienced  person  to  act 
as  your  guide  and  teacher.  If  it  is  not  your 


VIL]  WARNINGS   TO   PILGRIMS  159 

good  fortune  to  come  across  any  such  person, 
then  put  your  faith  in  the  holy  pusas  of  the 
mountains ;  and  when  you  burn  incense  at  their 
shrines  let  your  supplication  be  this — that  their 
spiritual  powers  may  be  so  put  forth  on  your 
behalf  that  through  them  you  may  at  last  attain 
the  goal  of  spiritual  wisdom. 

Secondly,  you  must  cultivate  steadiness  and 
sincerity  of  moral  purpose :  then  will  the  unseen 
powers  be  moved  to  grant  you  their  spiritual 
guidance  and  protection.  If,  for  the  sake  of 
avoiding  a  lonely  journey,  two  or  three  travel  in 
company,  they  must  watch  over  one  another  in 
sickness,  guard  one  another  from  robbery,  and  be 
one  another's  support  in  the  hour  of  danger  and 
during  the  night  watches.  But  in  choosing  his 
associates  the  pilgrim  must  seek  only  those  who 
are  of  upright  and  religious  nature.  On  a  long 
pilgrimage  one  is  sure  to  fall  in  with  false  friends 
and  true.  Select  as  your  companions  only  men  of 
good  character,  and,  having  made  your  selection, 
be  yourself  a  loyal  friend.  By  this  means  you  and 
your  fellow-pilgrims  will  be  honoured  comrades 
in  religion,  and  you  will  address  one  another  with 
seemly  respect  and  treat  one  another  with  courtesy. 
It  sometimes  happens  that  a  band  of  pilgrims  will 
give  a  loose  rein  to  the  basest  propensities  of 
lawless  natures.  When  they  arrive  at  a  monastery 
which  cannot  give  them  lodging -room  they  will 
forcibly  establish  themselves  on  the  premises,  and 
when  they  come  to  a  temple  which  is  unable  to 
offer  them  hospitality  they  will  defiantly  help 
themselves  to  supplies  of  food  and  drink.  Conduct 
like  this  is  altogether  to  be  condemned :  it  reveals 


160  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

a  disposition  that  is  quite  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  religion.  Be  careful  never  to  acquire  such  bad 
habits  as  these,  which  will  certainly  ruin  your 
reputation.  But  when  you  meet  any  one  of  noble 
and  exalted  character  you  should  honour  him  with 
all  the  marks  of  respect  that  you  would  show 
to  your  religious  instructor;  and  when  you  come 
across  people  who  are  crippled  and  in  misery 
you  should  do  all  in  your  power  to  relieve 
them. 

Thirdly,  you  should  begin  by  acquiring  full 
information  concerning  your  route,  and  when  you 
have  done  this  you  may  go  on  your  way  with  a 
trusting  heart.  You  should  make  up  your  mind 
definitely  about  the  places  to  be  visited,  and  map 
out  your  journey  in  accordance  with  the  position  of 
the  different  mountains.  If  you  neglect  to  make 
preliminary  arrangements  of  this  kind,  and  simply 
follow  others  in  an  aimless  way,  you  will  find 
yourself  continually  wasting  time  by  retracing 
your  own  footsteps,  and  thus  you  will  become 
bewildered  and  embarrassed.  Not  only  will  you 
fail  to  carry  out  your  original  intentions  regarding 
your  pilgrimage,  but  you  will  also  show  yourself 
to  be  a  person  of  irresolute  character.  If  while 
on  the  road  you  hear  of  some  monastery  which 
is  inhabited  by  men  of  distinguished  virtue  and 
wisdom,  you  should  make  careful  enquiries  as  to 
whether  the  report  is  true  or  false.  If  you  find 
it  to  be  true,  go  thither.  If  you  perceive  while 
lodging  in  a  monastery  that  the  rules  of  the 
monkhood  are  observed  with  great  strictness  and 
fidelity,  be  particularly  careful  in  your  own 
observance  of  such  rules,  always  remembering 


VIL]  FOLLOW  GOOD,  ESCHEW   EVIL  161 

that  you  are  on  a  religious  pilgrimage  and  should 
therefore  be  specially  zealous  in  your  obedience 
to  religious  law.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you 
find  that  the  monastic  regulations  are  but  laxly 
observed,  you  should  carefully  abstain  from  any 
expressions  of  reproach  or  criticism. 

Fourthly,  when  on  pilgrimage  it  is  not  fitting 
to  count  the  time  spent  in  travelling :  look  on  the 
road  as  your  home  for  the  time  being.  Cherishing 
a  frank  joyousness  in  your  heart,  pursue  day  by 
day  your  wanderer's  path.  Keep  your  thoughts 
directed  towards  the  way  of  truth,  and  fling  aside 
all  ideas  of  fame  or  personal  profit.  In  making  up 
your  mind  when  to  halt  and  when  to  proceed, 
when  to  take  long  stages  and  when  to  take  short 
ones,  you  should  be  guided  by  circumstances. 
If  you  are  in  the  company  of  a  truly  wise  and 
noble  companion,  regulate  your  own  stages  in 
accordance  with  his,  so  that  you  may  be  always 
near  him.  Cultivate  humility  and  patience,  and 
make  firm  resolutions  to  carry  out  your  pilgrimage 
in  spite  of  difficulties.  Do  not  be  too  particular 
in  what  you  eat  and  drink,  and  do  not  reject  the 
fare  that  is  placed  before  you  on  the  plea  that 
it  is  tasteless.  If  hardships  beset  you,  do  not  run 
away  from  them :  reflect  that  they  have  come 
to  you  only  because  the  sins  committed  by  you 
in  a  former  life  must  be  expiated  by  you  in  this 
one.  Make  it  your  business  at  all  costs  to  follow 
the  good  and  eschew  evil. 

Fifthly,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  proper 
object  of  the  pilgrim's  quest  is  truth  ;  he  must  not 
expect  to  find  his  path  an  easy  one.  In  this  world 

£ 


162  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

of  ours  we  cannot  hope  that  heaven  will  make 
Buddhas  of  us  for  the  asking.  It  is  not  till  the 
plum-tree  has  endured  the  icy  rigours  of  winter 
that  its  blossoming  time  will  come.  It  is  not  till 
the  pilgrim  has  won  his  way  with  zeal  and  courage 
through  all  the  pains  and  woes  of  human  life 
that  he  can  hope  to  attain  the  object  of  his  quest. 
Ponder  earnestly  the  teachings  of  the  wise.  When 
you  have  the  good  fortune  to  meet  a  sage,  treat 
him  with  the  same  respect  that  a  child  is  taught 
to  pay  to  his  schoolmasters  or  his  elders.  Neglect 
no  opportunity  of  cultivating  wisdom  and  virtue. 
Sometimes  you  will  meet  wise  men  whose  language 
is  different  from  yours,  or  who  speak  a  strange 
dialect,  so  that  it  is  difficult  for  you  to  derive 
full  benefit  from  their  discourse.  In  that  case  you 
should  take  notes  of  what  they  say,  so  that  you 
may  ponder  their  words  at  leisure. 

Sixthly,  it  should  be  remembered  that  there 
are  two  classes  of  pilgrims — laymen  and  monks. 
Lay-pilgrims,  if  they  are  provided  with  money, 
can  find  lodgings  for  themselves  without  diffi 
culty  ;  but  Buddhist  and  Taoist  monks  are 
scantily  furnished  with  the  wherewithal  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  travel,  and  they,  therefore,  must 
claim  their  privilege  of  free  board  and  lodging 
at  the  monasteries  along  their  route.  But  when 
a  monk  asks  for  hospitality  at  the  door  of  a 
strange  monastery  he  should  do  so  as  a  lowly 
suppliant  and  in  a  spirit  of  humility.  If  his 
request  is  granted,  he  should  be  grateful.  If, 
however,  his  diploma  fails  to  command  the 
expected  hospitality,  let  him  instantly  quell  any 
rising  anger  or  ill-will  against  those  who  turn 


LU-SHAN,    KIANGSI, 


MOUNTAIN   AND   STREAM,   SOUTHERN  ANHUI. 


[Facing'p.  162. 


vn.l  FORBEARANCE   AND   PATIENCE  163 

him  from  their  door.  If  he  has  been  overtaken 
by  darkness  or  caught  in  the  rain,  or  if  he  is 
wearied  with  a  long  day's  tramp,  let  him  make 
a  courteous  appeal  to  their  pity  and  charity.  If 
they  resolutely  refuse  to  receive  him,  then- 
still  without  any  show  of  impatience — he  should 
ask  to  be  directed  elsewhere.  He  must  refrain 
from  uttering  a  word  of  reproach,  for  not  only 
would  that  stir  up  feelings  of  resentment  in 
those  whom  he  addressed,  but  it  would  also  be 
injurious  to  his  own  character,  and  hinder  him 
from  maintaining  that  serenity  of  mind  which 
is  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  true  wisdom. 

Seventhly,  in  the  course  of  your  pilgrimage 
you  will  come  to  places  which  are  the  resort  of 
people  from  every  quarter.  Sometimes  you  will 
find  that  old  customs  have  undergone  great 
changes,  and  that  there  is  no  longer  any  one 
to  give  hospitable  reception  to  far  -  travelled 
monks.  In  these  circumstances  you  should 
conduct  yourself  in  accordance  with  local 
conditions,  and  beware  of  showing  resentment 
against  the  people  of  the  district  on  the  ground 
of  their  non  -  observance  of  religious  usages. 
Sometimes  you  will  pass  through  decayed  villages, 
or  among  people  who  are  themselves  so  sunk  in 
poverty  that  they  can  spare  nothing  for  strangers ; 
or  you  will  meet  with  people  who  are  parsimonious 
or  avaricious,  and  who  will  supply  you  with  no 
means  of  support  whatever.  In  such  cases  you 
must  refrain  from  referring  to  such  people  as 
ungenerous  or  uncharitable.  If  there  is  really 
nothing  else  for  you  to  do,  you  may  go  on  your 
way  as  a  mendicant,  carrying  your  begging- bowl 


164  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

in  your  hand.  There  is  a  saying  that  it  takes 
the  offerings  of  a  thousand  families  to  fill  a 
single  begging  -  bowl,  yet  a  solitary  mendicant 
will  not  starve  even  on  a  journey  of  three 
thousand  miles.  To  beg  one's  food  is  to  act  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  laid  down  by  the 
blessed  Buddha  himself;  no  one,  therefore,  need 
feel  shame  in  relying  upon  charity.  The  word 
pi-ch'iu  when  applied  to  a  Buddhist  monk  has  an 
outer  and  an  inner  significance : 1  the  mendicant 
begs  for  food  that  he  may  nourish  his  body;  he 
begs  for  instruction  in  the  law  of  Buddha  that 
he  may  nourish  his  character.  Let  the  good 
example  of  others  be  an  incentive  to  yourself. 
When  you  are  receiving  alms,  ask  your  own 
conscience  how  you  yourself  would  treat  a 
pilgrim-stranger  at  your  gates :  perhaps  you  will 
have  cause  for  shame.  When  you  accept  the 
charity  of  others,  fail  not  to  register  a  vow  that 
when  occasion  arises  you  will  treat  others  as 
considerately  as  others  are  now  treating  you. 

Eighthly,  the  pilgrim  must  carefully  observe 
the  thirty-seventh  secondary  commandment  of 
the  Fan-wang-ching,  which  strictly  admonishes 
the  Buddhist  monk  not  to  make  journeys  into 
dangerous  places  or  to  incur  unnecessary  risks.2 

1  The   Chinese  pi-ch'iu  represents  the   Sanskrit   bhikshu,  or   Pali 
bhikJchu,  and  literally  means  "  beggar/'  but  is  technically  applied  to  a 
religious  mendicant.       For    the    more    ordinary   Chinese    terms   for 
Buddhist  monk,  see  above,  p.  88. 

2  The  Chinese   Fan-wang-ching  (Brahmajala-siitra),    which   is   No. 
1087  in   B.N.,  is  riot  to   be  confused  with  the  Brahmajala   Suttanta 
mentioned  in  S.B.E.,  xx.  376,  and  xxxvi.  pp.  xxiii.-xxv.,  and  translated 
by  Rhys  Davids  in  his  Dialogues  of  the  Buddha.     The  Chinese  version 
has  been  translated  into  French,  and  annotated,  by  Dr  J.  J.  M.  De 
Groot,  in  his  Le  Code  du  Mahdydna  en  Chine.     The  "  thirty-seventh 
secondary  commandment "  will  be  found  on  pp.  69-71  of  De  Groot's 
work. 


vii.]  BE   CONTENT   WITH  LITTLE  165 

He  should  make  enquiries  as  to  whether  the 
places  he  proposes  to  visit  are  in  a  state  of 
prosperity  or  decay,  and  whether  the  roads  are 
open  to  travellers.  Only  when  the  answers  to 
such  enquiries  are  satisfactory  may  he  proceed 
on  his  way.  He  must  remind  himself,  moreover, 
that  temples  and  monasteries  were  built  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  worship  to  Buddha  and  the 
unseen  powers,  not  with  the  object  of  providing 
for  the  wants  of  people  like  himself ;  and  that  the 
provisions  stored  in  such  establishments  were  in 
tended  to  be  used  primarily  for  sacrificial  purposes 
and  secondarily  for  the  support  of  the  resident 
monks,  and  were  not  meant  to  be  at  the  disposal 
of  chance  comers.  If  you  are  offered  hospitality, 
take  gratefully  the  quarters  and  the  food  that 
your  hosts  may  provide  for  you.  Do  not  grumble 
if  you  are  cramped  for  want  of  space  or  if  the  food 
and  drink  are  not  of  superior  quality.  If  you 
show  anger  or  discontent,  how  can  you  expect 
to  escape  the  charge  of  being  covetous  and  ill- 
tempered  ?  You  should  train  yourself  to  be  happy 
and  satisfied  with  your  lot.  The  contented  man 
will  be  cheerful  even  if  he  has  to  sleep  on  the 
bare  ground.  There  was  a  time  when  your 
lord  Buddha  himself  was  supplied  with  nothing 
better  than  the  coarse  fodder  of  horses : l  remind 
yourself  that  at  least  you  fare  better  than  your 
Master  did. 

Ninthly,  remember  that  every  temple  and 
every  monastery,  wherever  situated,  is  in  itself 
equivalent  to  a  holy  mountain.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  its  principal  gate  is  known  as  shan-men 

1  For  the  canonical  story  referred  to  here,  see  Beal's  Lectures  on 
Buddhist  Literature  in  China,  1882,  p.  52. 


166  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

— Gate  of  the  Hill.1  The  temples  and  monasteries 
which  offer  hospitality  to  the  pilgrim  must  all, 
therefore,  be  regarded  by  him  with  equal  reverence 
and  their  inmates  treated  with  equal  respect.  He 
must  not  make  invidious  comparisons  between 
them.  Moreover,  he  must  be  careful  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  different  customs  in  vogue  in  the 
different  monasteries  which  he  visits.  If  he  arrives 
at  the  hour  of  morning  or  evening  service,  or  at 
the  time  of  the  burning  of  incense,  or  when  the 
monks  are  going  out  to  labour  in  the  fields  or 
when  they  are  about  to  go  into  the  refectory, 
let  him  strictly  conform  to  the  rules  of  the 
fraternity.  He  should  also  show  himself  willing 
to  join  the  brethren  in  the  performance  of  their 
prescribed  duties,  and  must  on  no  account 
excuse  himself  from  doing  so  on  the  false  plea 
that  he  is  wearied  with  travel  and  must  needs 
seek  rest. 

Tenthly,  and  lastly,  on  his  way  to  the  holy 
mountains  the  pilgrim  must  keep  a  careful  watch 
over  his  moral  conduct.  He  must  rigorously  keep 
the  commandments,  and  must  not  abandon  him 
self  to  self-indulgence  of  any  kind.2  He  should 

1  In  spite  of  the  popularity  of  pilgrimages  in  China,  it  is   freely 
admitted  by  both  Buddhists  and  Taoists  that  a  man  can  worship  the 
divine  powers  quite  as  well  by  staying  at  home  as  by  going  on  a  long 
journey.    Many  a  little  Taoist  temple,  unknown  to  fame,  bears  above  its 
gateway  an  inscription  to  this  effect :  ' f  Why  do  you  wander  far  from 
home  and  seek  a  distant  shrine  ?     Here,  close  to  your  own  doors,  is 
T'ai-shan ! "     In   this   and   many   similar   sayings   (Buddhist  as  well 
as  Taoist)  a  reference  is  understood  to  the  theory  mentioned  in  the 
text  that  every  temple  or  monastery  is,  or  is  equivalent  to,  a  Sacred 
Hill. 

2  Both  lay  and  monastic  Buddhists  are  bound  by  "  commandments," 
but  those  imposed  on  the  monks  are  much  stricter  and  more  numerous 
than  those  enjoined  on  laymen. 


VIL]  AVOID  COVETOUSNESS  167 

not  allow  his  mind  to  be  occupied  except  by  pure 
and  honourable  thoughts,  and  he  must  not  be 
led  astray  by  carnal  enticements.  Amid  all  the 
beautiful  scenes  that  meet  his  gaze  let  it  be  his 
first  object  to  be  master  of  himself.  Let  him  also 
avoid  all  reckless  covetousness;  whether  his  desires 
be  set  on  books  and  scrolls  or  on  gold  and  jade 
and  precious  stones.  Such  objects  as  these  are  all 
liable  to  corrupt  the  character  of  those  who  long 
for  them  overmuch.  Worldly-minded  men  may 
value  such  things :  to  the  pilgrim  they  should  be 
of  no  account.  To  covet  the  material  possessions 
of  others  will  assuredly  bring  discredit  on  the 
pilgrim  who  yields  to  temptation,  and  his  deeds 
may  even  be  injurious  to  other  pilgrims  who  in 
future  happen  to  traverse  the  same  road.  Where 
fore  let  the  pilgrim  rigidly  abstain  from  making 
free  with  the  property  of  another,  irrespective  of 
whether  the  coveted  object  be  a  thing  of  real  value 
or  only  a  worthless  trifle. 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  some  of  the 
warnings  and  suggestions  contained  in  these  little 
sermons  are  evidently  intended  for  the  edification 
of  pilgrims  of  a  humble  and  unlettered  class. 
That  this  is  so  is  clear  not  only  from  the  matter, 
but  also  from  the  manner  of  the  discourses  ;  for  their 
style  is  simple  and  unpretentious  and  quite  devoid 
of  the  classicisms  and  artifices  which  appeal  to  the 
literary  instincts  of  the  average  Chinese  scholar. 
The  remarks  on  the  subject  of  mendicancy,  in 
the  seventh  sermon,  perhaps  require  a  word  of 
comment.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  orthodox 


168  "THE   PILGRIM'S   GUIDE"  [CH. 

Buddhist  practice  of  mendicancy  is  not  carried 
out  in  China  to  any  appreciable  extent.  It  is 
only  when  their  lot  is  cast  among  a  lay  population 
of  devout  Buddhists  that  Buddhist  monks  can 
hope  to  support  themselves  out  of  the  voluntary 
daily  offerings  of  the  faithful ;  and  lay  China  is 
not,  and  never  has  been,  so  enthusiastically 
Buddhist  as  the  people  of  Burma,  Ceylon,  and 
Siam.  To  witness  a  procession  of  yellow-robed 
monks  wending  their  way,  begging  -  bowls  in 
hand,  through  a  Burmese  village  or  through  the 
streets  of  a  city  like  Mandalay,  is  an  experience 
that  may  fall  to  the  lot  of  any  Western  visitor  to 
south-eastern  Asia;  but  he  will  be  disappointed  if  he 
expects  to  see  anything  of  the  same  kind  in  China. 
The  Chinese  monastic  communities  are  supported 
by  their  endowments  and  by  the  offerings  brought 
to  the  monasteries  at  festival  -  seasons  and  on 
special  occasions  of  private  urgency  by  pilgrims 
and  other  visitors  and  worshippers.  Buddhist 
monks  in  China  often,  indeed,  go  into  the  towns 
and  villages  with  subscription  -  books  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting  money  for  such  objects  as 
the  rebuilding  or  restoration  of  a  temple  or 
monastic  building;  but  a  monk  who  tried  to 
procure  his  daily  food  by  carrying  a  begging-bowl 
from  door  to  door  would  probably  suffer  from 
chronic  hunger,  and  might  even  meet  with  a  good 
deal  of  abuse.  He  would  be  more  likely  to  get 
his  bowl  filled — and  would  run  less  risk  of  insult — 
by  throwing  off  the  monkish  garb  altogether  and 


VIL]  HOSPITALITY   IN  CHINA  169 

making  his  appeal  to  the  charitable  in  the  guise 
of  an  ordinary  lay  beggar.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  religious  pilgrims,  whether  Buddhist  or  Taoist, 
need  have  little  fear  of  suffering  from  lack  of  food 
or  shelter.  The  Chinese  are  a  hospitable  and 
kind-hearted  people ;  and  they  will  rarely  allow 
a  stranger  to  turn  away  hungry  from  their  doors. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

TI-TSANG    PUSA 

THE  mountain  of  Chiu-hua,  one  of  the  principal 
objects  of  pilgrimage  in  Buddhist  China,  consists 
of  a  range  of  pinnacled  hills  which  lie  at  a  distance 
of  a  score  of  miles  from  the  south  bank  of  the 
Yangtse  in  the  province  of  Anhui.  Its  patron 
divinity  is  the  compassionate  Ti-tsang,  the  pusa 
or  bodhisat  whose  gracious  function  it  is  to  fling 
open  the  gates  and  lighten  the  gloom  of  hell  and 
rescue  tortured  souls  from  the  pitiless  grasp  of 
the  lictors  of  Yenlo-wang  (Yama-raja),  the  king 
of  devils. 

Mahayana  literature  contains  several  sutras 
which  tell  us  about  Ti-tsang  and  his  works.1  The 
Sanskrit  name  of  this  bodhisat  is  Kshitigarbha, 
meaning  Earth  -  Womb  or  Earth  -  Treasury,  of 
which  the  Chinese  words  Ti  -  tsang  are  a  trans 
lation.  The  name  is  explained  thus.  According 
to  one  of  the  cosmological  theories  of  the  Tantric 

1  See  B.N.  G4,  05,  981,  997,  1003,  1457,  and  several  other  sutras 
(Har.  iii.  vol.  vii.,  etc.).  Chinese  editions  of  the  Ti-tsarig  sutras  are 
frequently  published  at  the  monasteries  of  Pai-sui  and  Ch'i-yiian,  on 
Chiu-hua,  and  also  at  the  Yung-chfiian  monastery  of  Ku-shan,  near 
Foochow. 

170 


CH.  VIIL]          THE    VOW  OF  TI-TSANG  171 

Buddhists,1  the  Earth  is  180,000  yojanas  thick- 
say,  six  million  miles.  The  deepest  or  lowest  of 
the  various  earth -layers  is  the  Diamond  -  earth 
(Chinese  chin-kang-ti],  which  is  absolutely  unyield 
ing  and  unbreakable.  Even  so,  it  is  said,  is  the 
inflexibility  of  the  virtue  and  courage  which  fill 
the  heart  of  Ti-tsang;  for  he  has  uttered  a  vow 
before  the  throne  of  the  eternal  God  (the  glorified 
Buddha)  that  he  will  devote  himself  to  the  salva 
tion  of  suffering  mankind,  and  that  he  will  not  be 
deterred  for  a  single  instant  from  his  self-imposed 
task  until,  after  the  lapse  of  aeons,  he  has  brought 
all  living  beings  safely  to  the  haven  of  Buddha- 
hood.  Having  uttered  his  vow,  nothing  can  make 
Ti-tsang  swerve  from  his  purpose.  Just  as  the 
earth  rests  immovably  on  its  adamantine  founda 
tion,  so  will  mankind  find  its  surest  support 
in  the  diamond-like  firmness  of  the  will  of  the 
unconquerable  Ti-tsang.2  The  hosts  of  evil  spirits 
cannot  daunt  him,  and  from  sorrow  and  danger 
and  pain  he  will  not  shrink.  He  will  take  on 
himself  the  burden  of  the  woes  of  all  who  trust 
him,  and  he  will  never  regard  his  work  as  finished 
so  long  as  a  single  soul  languishes  in  sorrow  or 
in  pain. 

It  is  with  reference  to  his  position  as  nourisher 
and  consoler  and  rock  of  refuge  that  Ti-tsang  is 
sometimes  known  as  the  Earth-spirit  (ti-shen),  the 


1  As  expounded,  for  instance,  in  the  Ghin-kuznq-minq-chinq  (see  B.N . 
126,  127). 

J  Yen-mintj  Ti-tsang  Ghing. 


TI-TSANG   PUS  A  [CH. 

world  -  supporting  spirit  (ch'ih  -  ti  -  shen),  and  the 
Diamond  or  Adamantine  spirit  (Chin-kang  chien- 
ku-sheri).  He  bears  the  name  of  Earth  partly 
because  his  sympathy  and  compassion  are  all- 
embracing,  and  partly  because  his  will  to  afford 
help  and  the  means  of  salvation  to  struggling  souls 
is  unchangeable  and  indomitable.  But  there  is 
also  an  allusion  to  his  special  function  as  opener 
of  the  gates  of  hell :  for  the  Chinese  name  for 
"  hell "  is  ti-yu,  which  literally  means  earth-prison.1 
Ti-tsang  is  generally  represented  as  carrying  a 
staff  or  crozier  in  one  hand  and  a  miraculous  jewel 
in  the  other.  When  he  touches  the  doors  of  hell 
with  his  staff  they  are  burst  asunder;  when  he 
passes  the  gloomy  portals  and  holds  forth  his 
radiant  jewel  the  darkness  of  hell  is  dispelled  by 
rays  of  celestial  light.2  According  to  another 
account  of  the  articles  carried  by  Ti-tsang,  he  is  the 
bearer  of  the  gleaming  pearl  which  by  the  reflection 
of  its  light  cracks  and  bursts  the  iron  walls  of  hell, 
and  of  the  golden  crozier  with  which  he  causes 
the  dark  halls  of  death  to  shake  and  tremble. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  educated 
Buddhist  really  believes  that  the  hells  in  which 
erring  human  souls  are  tormented  are  situated  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Indeed,  when  we  consider 
how  the  Oriental  mind  understands  the  use  of 
symbolism,  and  what  stress  is  laid  by  Buddhist 

1  See  p.  145. 

2  3-  f  &  a  m  §e  *  at  &  n  *  t »»  %  *  m 


\ 


I IV 

:»» • 


JIZO. 

(Tl-TSANG  PUSA.) 


[Faring  6.   i1?. 


VIIL]    THE  TREASURE-HOUSE  OF  TI-TSANG      178 

metaphysics  on  the  impermanence  and  non-reality 
of  all  that  pertains  to  the  phenomenal  world,  we 
may  doubt  whether  Buddhists  ever  held  such 
crudely  materialistic  views  of  the  unseen  world 
as  those  which  till  recent  years  were  current  in 
Europe.1  In  any  case  it  is  well  to  emphasize  the 
point  that  the  Buddhist  "  hells "  are  comparable 
not  with  the  eternal  Hell  of  which  Christianity 
teaches,  but  rather  with  Purgatory.2  Everlasting 
or  eternal  punishment  is  not,  and  never  was, 
taught  by  Buddhism.  Salvation  is  eventually  to 
be  attained  by  all  living  beings,  even  by  the  very 
devils  themselves. 

The  second  part  of  the  name  Ti-tsang  means 
a  storehouse  or  treasury.  This,  too,  is  symboli 
cally  descriptive  of  the  pusa,  whose  love  and 
compassion  are  an  inexhaustible  treasure  which 
is  for  ever  poured  forth  for  the  benefit  of  souls 
in  sorrow.  The  treasure-house  of  Ti-tsang  is 
open  to  the  whole  world,  and  its  riches  are 
distributed  freely  among  all  who  seek  them. 
Not  the  most  forlorn  and  abject  wretch  in  the 
profoundest  and  most  hideous  of  the  hells  need 
be  without  hope  of  sharing  in  the  bounteous 
gifts  of  Ti-tsang.3 


1  "The  Roman  Catholic  Church/'  as   Dean  Inge  tells  us,   "still 
teaches  not  only  that  the  purgatorial  fire  is  material,  but  that  it  is 
situated  in  the  middle  of  the  earth  "  (Personal  Idealism  and  Mysticism, 
p.  150).     The  Dean  is  careful  to  add  that  educated  Romanists  no  longer 
believe  this. 

2  See  p.  62. 

3  Cf.  the  Catholic  theory  of  the  Treasure  of  the  Church,  referred  to 
on  p.  79  above. 


174  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

This  gracious  pusa  appears  as  a  speaker  in 
several  of  the  Mahayana  sutras ;  but  it  will  be 
readily  understood  from  what  has  been  said  in 
an  earlier  chapter  that  the  Buddhists  make  no 
attempt  to  identify  the  original  Ti  -  tsang  (as 
distinct  from  his  subsequent  "incarnations") 
with  any  historical  personage.  For  the  true 
Ti-tsang,  as  for  the  true  Amitabha,  Kuan-yin, 
P'u-hsien,  or  Wen-shu,  we  may  search  historical 
records  in  vain.  The  great  bodhisats  are 
independent  of  history  and  unconditioned  by 
space  and  time.1  Just  as  Buddhahood  can  be 
realized  only  by  him  who  has  himself  become 
Buddha,  so  Ti-tsang  is  truly  knowable  only  by 
the  man  who  has  first  sought  and  found  his  own 
unfettered  Self — an  achievement  which  will  be 
followed  by  the  additional  discovery  that  Ti- 
tsang  and  all  his  fellow-pusas  are  but  as  star- 
flashes  from  the  aureole  of  Buddha,  and  that 
Buddha  and  the  unfettered  Self  are  One. 

But  a  creed  that  is  to  meet  the  religious 
and  emotional  needs  of  the  unlearned  multitude 
as  well  as  those  of  the  philosopher  and  the 
mystic  is  obliged  not  only  to  soar  starwards,  but 
also  to  keep  in  touch  with  homely  earth.  Deity, 
if  it  would  be  recognized  as  such,  must  undergo 
a  partial  humanization ;  the  sublimest  ideals 
must  be  interpreted  in  terms  of  human  thought 
and  knowledge  —  the  divine,  in  short,  must 
become  incarnate. 

i  See  pp.  113-116. 


VIIL]  THE  TI-TSANG   SUTRA  175 

It  will  perhaps  help  us  to  understand  how  the 
problem  is  dealt  with  by  the  Mahayanists  if  we 
briefly  examine  one  of  the  numerous  sutras  in 
which  the  doctrine  of  the  bodhisats  is  instruc 
tively  handled.  The  sutra  which  deals  with  the 
Vow  of  Ti-tsang — a  vow  which,  as  we  shall  see, 
is  practically  the  same  as  that  taken  by  every 
bodhisat  and  by  the  glorious  Amitabha  Buddha 
himself  in  the  days  of  his  bodhisatship — may  be 
regarded  as  typical  of  its  class.  This  work1  has 
existed  in  a  Chinese  form  since  the  last  years  of 
the  seventh  century  of  our  era,  but  its  Sanskrit 
original  is  of  much  greater  antiquity. 

The  sutra  opens  with  a  description  of  a  great 
assembly  of  pusas  and  other  supernatural  beings 
in  the  paradise  known  in  Chinese  as  Taoli  and 
in  Sanskrit  as  Trayastrimsa — the  heaven  of  the 
Brahmanic  god  Indra.  Over  this  vast  crowd  of 
divinities  presides  the  Buddha  himself,  who,  it 
must  be  observed,  is  the  same  and  yet  not  the 
same  as  the  historic  founder  of  the  Buddhist 
religion.2  He  is  the  same,  because  in  attaining 
Buddhahood  Gotama  reached  the  highest  state 
which  can  be  reached  by  any  being,  human  or 
divine;  yet  not  the  same,  because  he  has 
transcended  the  category  of  human  personality. 

The     description     of    the     opening    scene    is 

1  The  Ti-tsang  p'u-sci-pim-yuan-ching. 

2  He   is   represented   as  having   visited   this    "heaven"   for  the 
purpose  of  preaching  the  Law  to  his  mother  Maya,  who  had  been 
re-born  there  after  her  life  on  earth.     There  are  sutras  dealing  with 
this  subject  (see  B.N.  153  and  382.) 


176  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

obviously  intended  to  attune  the  reader's  imagina 
tion  to  the  keynote  of  a  celestial  melody.  He 
is  warned  at  once  that  the  events  to  be  related 
are  on  a  far  grander  and  vaster  scale  than  is 
possible  or  conceivable  within  the  narrow  bounds 
of  mundane  life.  The  unimaginable  immensity  of 
the  number  of  spiritual  beings  who  assemble 
from  all  the  "  worlds  "  of  gods,  angels,  men,  and 
demons  to  do  honour  to  Buddha  is  brought 
home  to  us  by  Buddha's  opening  speech  and 
the  answer  thereto.  Buddha  turns  to  the  great 
pusa  Wen-shu  (Manjusri),  and  asks  him  whether 
he  can  count  the  number  of  these  beings.  Wen- 
shu  replies  that  even  with  the  aid  of  super 
natural  power  he  would  be  unable  to  do  so, 
though  he  were  to  devote  to  this  sole  task  a 
thousand  geons.  We  should  be  wrong  if  we  were 
to  regard  this  merely  as  an  example  of  Oriental 
grandiloquence.  It  is  an  attempt  to  make  us 
realize  the  utter  futility  of  all  efforts  to  measure 
the  infinite,  and  an  indication  that  we  have  been 
lifted  into  a  region  in  which  mundane  standards 
and  qualifications  are  inadequate  and  inapplic 
able.  This  point  is  emphasized  by  the  fact  that 
the  confession  of  incapability  is  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Wen-shu.  If  even  he — the  wisest  of 
all  the  pusas  —  is  unable  to  answer  Buddha's 
question,  it  would  be  obviously  impossible  for 
any  one  else  to  do  so.  Buddha  himself,  of  whom 
it  is  said  that  there  is  nothing  he  does  not  know, 
nothing  he  does  not  hear,  nothing  he  does  not 


VIIL]  REDEMPTION  OF  MANKIND  177 

see1 — admits  that  the  infinite  cannot  be  brought 
within  the  scope  of  any  intellectual  process. 
He  goes  on  to  explain  that  these  countless 
myriads  of  spirits  are  the  beings  who  through 
immeasurable  ages  of  past  and  future  time  have 
been  or  will  be  brought  to  salvation  by  the 
power  of  Ti-tsang ;  and,  in  response  to  a  request 
from  Wen-shu,  Buddha  tells  the  story  of  Ti- 
tsang's  Vow  and  its  incalculable  results. 

Ages  ago,  in  a  remote  kalpa  or  aeon,  the 
future  pusa  was  born  as  a  member  of  a  certain 
noble  family,  and  became  a  devoted  disciple  of 
the  Buddha.2  Filled  with  religious  enthusiasm 
and  with  intense  pity  for  his  suffering  fellow- 
men,  he  swore  a  solemn  oath,  which  was  duly 
registered  by  the  Buddha,  that  he  would 
consecrate  his  whole  life  —  and  all  his  future 
lives  for  incalculable  ages  --to  the  work  of 
the  redemption  of  sinful  and  miserable  man 
kind.  Never  would  he  desist  from  his  task  — 
such  was  his  vow — until,  having  brought  all 
men  safely  across  the  river  of  life  and  death, 
he  had  landed  them  on  the  shores  of  Nirvana, 
and  seen  them  pass  into  eternal  beatitude. 

./Eons    passed    away,    and   the    successive    re- 

1  This  is  quoted  in  a  Chinese  commentary  on  the  Ti-tsang  sutra. 

2  That  is  to  say,  the  Buddha  of  that  kalpa — since  succeeded  by 
many   other   Buddha s,    of  whom   Gotama  was    the  last.     The   next 
Buddha  is  to  be  Maitreya,  who  is  still   a  bodhisat,  dwelling  in  the 
Tushita  heaven,  awaiting  the  day  when  he  shall  be  born  again  on 
earth  and  become  Buddha. 

M 


178  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [OH. 

incarnations  of  the  pusa  were  all  marked  by 
incessant  acts  of  untiring  altruism  and  unswerv 
ing  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  man.  At  last, 
in  a  later  kalpa  (still  immeasurably  remote  from 
the  present  age),  he  was  reborn  as  a  Brahman 
girl.  This  maiden  was  virtuous,  religious,  and 
of  exceptionally  good  repute  among  both  gods 
and  men ;  her  mother,  on  the  contrary,  was  an 
impious  heretic  and  a  scoffer,  to  whom  holy 
things  were  of  no  account.  After  an  evil  life 
the  elder  woman  died  unrepentant,  as  a  result 
of  which  she  was  condemned  to  the  torments  of 
the  Avichi  hell.1  The  girl,  whose  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  yin-kuo  (cause  and  effect)  assured 
her  that  her  mother  must  have  been  reborn  in 
hell,  devoted  herself  more  heartily  than  ever  to 
good  works  and  religion,  in  the  hope  that  she 
might  thereby  ease  her  mother's  pain.  One  day 
she  was  kneeling  in  a  sanctuary  praying  to 
Buddha  and  weeping  bitter  tears  because  she 
knew  not  what  sufferings  her  mother  was 
undergoing  or  how  she  could  relieve  them. 
Suddenly  she  heard  a  voice.  "  Dry  your  tears, 
poor  weeping  saint,"  it  said ;  "  I  will  reveal  to 
you  the  place  whither  your  mother  has  been 
taken."  The  unseen  Buddha — for  it  was  he — 
then  bade  the  girl  return  home  and  ponder  his 
name  silently  and  faithfully,  after  which  the 
secret  of  her  mother's  abode  would  assuredly 

1  The  Chinese  name  of  this,  the  last  of  the  < '  eight  hot  hells/'  is 
Wu-chien,  which  signifies  a  place  of  uninterrupted  torment. 


VIIL]        STORY   OF  THE   BRAHMAN   GIRL         179 

be  revealed  to  her.  She  did  as  she  was  bidden, 
and  after  spending  a  day  and  a  night  in  an 
ecstasy  of  meditation  she  suddenly  found  herself 
transported  to  the  edge  of  a  wildly  -  raging 
ocean  in  which  wallowed  vast  numbers  of 
hideous  marine  animals.  Above  them  skimmed 
and  flapped  uncanny  beasts  with  wings.  Into 
the  turbulent  waters  were  flung  the  living 
bodies  of  shrieking  men  and  women,  whose 
writhing  limbs  were  greedily  wrenched  asunder 
by  the  pitiless  jaws  and  talons  of  the  wrangling 
monsters.  Yakshas  (hell  -  demons),  too,  there 
were,  of  uncouth  shapes — yakshas  many-armed, 
many  -  eyed,  double  -  headed,  and  multiped,  and 
with  teeth  that  protruded  from  the  mouth  with 
edges  like  sharp  swords.  When  the  miserable 
human  sufferers  struggled  desperately  to  wrench 
themselves  free  and  to  reach  the  neighbouring 
shores,  back  they  were  driven  by  the  yakshas 
to  the  crimsoned  waters  and  the  insatiable  teeth 
and  claws.  The  sight  was  insupportable,  and 
the  Brahman  girl  felt  terrified  and  sick  at  heart 
until,  having  offered  silent  prayer  to  Buddha, 
she  acquired  new  fortitude  through  her  faith  in 
him.  After  a  little  while  she  was  approached 
by  a  "  devil-king,"  who  asked  her  what  she  was 
doing  at  the  entrance  to  hell;  for  this  ocean,  he 
remarked,  was  one  of  the  three  great  waters 
which  have  to  be  crossed  by  the  souls  of  dead 
sinners  on  their  way  to  their  place  of  punish 
ment.  "  This  one,"  he  observed,  "  is  not  nearly 


180  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

so  dreadful  as  the  second  one ;  and  the  second 
is  not  nearly  as  bad  as  the  third."  The  girl 
explains  that  her  object  in  coming  to  the  confines 
of  hell  is  that  she  may  find  her  mother.  "  My 
mother  died  a  short  time  ago,"  she  says,  "and 
I  am  in  doubt  as  to  where  her  soul  has  gone." 
In  answer  to  the  devil-king's  questions  she  then 
gives  him  full  details  as  to  her  mother's  name 
and  earthly  residence ;  whereupon  he  clasps  his 
hands  respectfully  and  assures  her  that  all  is 
well,  and  that  she  may  go  home  in  comfort. 
"Your  mother,"  he  says,  "is  already  in  heaven. 
Sinner  as  she  was,  she  has  been  saved  by  the 
virtue  and  filial  piety  of  her  saintly  daughter. 
You  have  rescued  your  mother  from  the  worst 
of  the  hells,  and  now  she  is  at  peace  in  Paradise." 
With  these  cheering  words  the  devil  departed, 
and  the  Brahman  girl  fell  into  a  trance,  from 
which  she  awoke  amid  the  familiar  surroundings 
of  her  own  home.  Full  of  gratitude  to  Buddha, 
she  hurried  off  to  the  sanctuary  in  which  she 
had  received  his  promise,  and  there  she  renewed 
the  oath  made  in  a  former  age — that  she  would 
become  a  saviour  of  mankind,  and  consecrate 
all  her  activities  to  the  rescue  of  suffering  sinners 
from  the  pains  and  sorrows  incident  to  both  life 
and  death.  More  especially  would  she  strive  to 
assuage  the  miseries  of  those  who  were  being 
tormented  in  the  underworld,  nor  would  she  con 
sider  her  vow  fulfilled  until  every  soul  in  hell  had 
become  a  partaker  in  the  ineffable  bliss  of  heaven. 


VIIL]  THE   MOTHER   OF  BUDDHA  181 

The  next  part  of  the  sutra  describes  how 
throughout  unimaginable  ages  and  in  countless 
worlds  Ti-tsang  in  his  successive  reincarnations 
has  been  steadily  carrying  out  his  benevolent 
purpose.  In  the  presence  of  all  the  divine  beings 
who  have  assembled  in  the  Taoli  paradise  he  now 
receives  the  blessing  of  Buddha,  to  whom  he  has 
made  a  report  of  the  work  already  performed. 

The  first  speaker  in  the  next  scene  is  the 
Lady  Maya,  the  "Holy  Mother"  (Sheng  Mu), 
who  begs  Ti-tsang  to  expound  the  nature  of  the 
punishments  meted  out  to  the  wicked.  Maya  is 
the  traditional  name  of  the  earthly  parent  of 
Gotama  Buddha,  and  according  to  a  Mahayanist 
theory  she  is  "the  eternal  Mother  of  all  the 
Buddhas." 1  In  accordance  with  her  request, 
Ti-tsang  proceeds  to  enumerate  and  describe  the 
different  kinds  of  sins  which  can  only  be  expiated 
in  the  Avlchi  hell.  Into  these  detailed  descriptions, 
which  are  similar  to  those  in  numerous  sutras 
and  sermon-books,  we  need  not  enter.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  the  list  of  sins  is  headed 
by  the  gravest  moral  offence  known  to  Chinese 
ethics — lack  of  filial  piety.  Among  those  which 
follow  are  sacrilege,  contempt  for  holy  things,  and 
irreverence  towards  the  books  of  the  Buddhist 
scriptures. 

After  a  short  dialogue  between   Buddha  and 
Ti-tsang   on  the   subject  of  the   working   of  the 

1  JIMS  ^    A   ;#  JR   ^f*    ft   £   j|«       Here  again  we  have 
a  hint  of  the  mystical  truth  that  all  the  Buddhas  are  one. 


182  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

inexorable  law  of  karma  (moral  character  in  action 
and  its  results),  Buddha  gives  a  further  account, 
in  answer  to  a  question  put  by  a  pusa  named  Ting- 
tzu-tsai  (the  "  Self-Existent "),  of  some  of  the  acts 
of  self-sacrifice  performed  by  Ti-tsang  in  certain 
of  his  former  incarnations.  Once,  for  example, 
he  was  born  as  king  of  a  country  which  was  noted 
for  the  wickedness  of  its  inhabitants,  and  through 
love  and  pity  for  his  misguided  subjects  he  swore 
that  he  would  refuse  to  accept  the  rewards  due 
to  his  own  virtue  so  long  as  a  single  man  in  his 
kingdom  remained  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  vice 
or  worldly  delusion.  In  another  age  he  was  born 
as  a  girl,  and  was  known  by  the  name  of  Bright- 
eyes.1  This  damsel's  characteristic  virtue  was  filial 
piety,  and  the  story  told  of  her  is  similar  in 
essentials  to  that  of  the  Brahman  girl. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  Four  Heavenly  Kings 2 
Buddha  now  explains  the  doctrine  of  retribution, 
and  enumerates  the  punishments  that  follow  the 
different  classes  of  misdeeds.  The  important 
Buddhist  commandment  "Thou  shalt  not  take 
life"  is  given  special  prominence  in  this  chapter. 
To  deprive  any  being  of  life,  says  our  Chinese 
commentator  on  this  passage,  is  one  of  the  gravest 
of  sins,  from  two  points  of  view.  In  the  first  place, 
all  men  and  animals  instinctively  cling  to  life, 
and  are  therefore  bound  to  respect  life  in  others. 
In  the  second  place — and  this  is  a  far  graver  con 
sideration — all  living  beings,  even  the  lowest 

1  Kuang-mu.  2  Ss&  ta  t'ien-wang. 


AT   THE   SOUTHERN   BASE   OF  CHIU-HUA. 
(Peaks  covered  with  mist.) 


A   MOUNTAIN   STREAM,   CHIU-HUA. 


[Facing  /.   182. 


VIIL]  FU-HSIEN   PUSA  183 

insects,  are  sharers  in  the  Buddha  -  nature ;  to 
commit  needless  and  wanton  slaughter,  therefore, 
is  to  incur  the  guilt  of  killing  a  Buddha.  The 
commentator  gives  several  little  anecdotes  to 
illustrate  the  text.  For  example,  he  tells  us 
that  once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  wealthy  noble 
who  had  an  only  son.  The  son  married  a  wife. 
Seven  days  after  the  wedding  he  climbed  a  tree  to 
pluck  blossoms  to  make  a  garland  for  his  bride, 
but  he  fell  from  a  branch  and  was  killed.  The 
noble,  overcome  with  grief,  visited  Buddha  and 
besought  him  to  explain  what  he  had  done  to 
deserve  so  severe  a  calamity  as  the  loss  of  his  only 
son.  "  Long  ago,"  said  Buddha,  "  there  was  a  boy 
who  went  out  with  a  bow  and  arrows  to  shoot 
birds.  Three  men  were  with  him  and  gave  him 
encouragement.  That  boy  was  no  other  than  your 
own  son  in  a  former  incarnation ;  and  you  yourself 
and  your  wife  and  your  son's  bride  were  the  three 
who  encouraged  him  in  his  cruel  sport." 

The  next  speaker  is  P'u-hsien  pusa,1  at  whose 
request  Ti-tsang  gives  an  account  of  the  various 
hells  which  he  has  visited  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
souls.  When  this  is  concluded  Buddha  arises 
and  exhorts  all  pusas  and  spiritual  beings  to 
protect  and  keep  holy  this  sutra  concerning  the 
Vow  of  Ti-tsang,  so  that  through  the  sanctity 
and  spiritual  efficacy  of  its  words  all  men  may 
reach  the  heaven  of  Nirvana.  As  he  speaks,  all 
the  myriad  worlds  comprising  the  whole  universe 

1  The  patron  divinity  of  Omei-shan.     See  p.  147. 


184  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [CH. 

are  illuminated  by  a  radiant  light  which  emanates 
from  his  transfigured  person.  He  goes  on  to 
describe  the  results  of  a  true  and  devout  faith 
in  Ti-tsang.  Devotion  to  this  pusa  will  infallibly 
bring  peace  and  happiness  to  those  in  pain,  sick 
ness,  or  sorrow,  and  will  be  a  sure  protection 
to  all  who  are  in  danger  or  are  disturbed  by  evil 
spirits.1 

After  a  religious  dialogue  between  Ti-tsang  and 
an  "elder"  named  Ta  Pien  ("Great  Argument") 
concerning  death  and  judgment  and  rebirth,  we 
come  to  the  most  dramatic  event  described  in 
the  sutra — the  arrival  of  Yenlo-wang  (Yama), 
the  king  of  hell,  with  a  vast  crowd  of  "  great  devil- 
kings"  and  "small  devil -kings."  Yenlo  kneels 
before  Buddha  and  explains  that  he  and  his 
diabolical  company  have  been  enabled  to  pay 
this  visit  to  the  Taoli  heaven  through  the  spiritual 
might  of  Buddha  himself  and  that  of  the  pusa 
Ti-tsang,  and  that  they  have  come  to  implore 
the  World-honoured  One  to  remove  their  doubts 
and  perplexities  concerning  the  nature  of  Ti-tsang's 
great  work  of  redemption  and  rescue,  especially 
with  reference  to  those  backsliding  souls  to  whom 

1  Reverence  to  Ti-tsang  may  be  shown  in  many  ways.  One  of  them 
consists,  we  are  told,  in  making  copies  of  this  sutra.  The  copying  or 
reprinting  of  any  portion  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures  is  always  re 
garded  by  Chinese  Buddhists  as  an  act  of  great  religious  merit.  This 
is  why  we  constantly  find  at  the  end  of  monastery  -  editions  of  the 
sacred  books  a  list  of  the  names  of  all  who  subscribed  towards  the  cost 
of  printing.  Such  names  usually  include  those  of  monks,,  nuns,  and 
lay-believers.  It  sometimes  happens,  as  we  shall  see,  that  a  monk  or 
hermit  uses  his  own  blood  in  making  copies  of  the  scriptures  or  in 
drawing  portraits  of  his  favourite  pusa. 


VIIL]  "EVIL  POISON"  185 

the  helping  hand  of  the  saviour  Ti-tsang  has 
already  been  extended,  but  who  have  again  fallen 
into  evil  ways  and  have  incurred  fresh  punishment. 
Buddha  proceeds  to  preach  a  sermon  on  this 
subject,  in  which  he  says  that  men  are  often  of  a 
froward  and  untamable  nature,  which  causes  them 
to  fall  into  sin  as  often  as  they  are  helped  out 
of  it.  The  patience  and  compassion  of  Ti-tsang, 
however,  are  limitless,  and  he  does  not  turn  away 
from  those  who  are  in  need  of  his  help  even 
though  they  have  wandered  again  and  again 
from  the  safe  path  to  which  he  has  led  them. 

One  of  the  principal  devils,  whose  unpromis 
ing  name  is  O-tu  ("  Evil  Poison  "),  is  the  next  pro 
tagonist  in  the  heavenly  drama.  His  speech 
throws  light  on  the  ideas  of  Chinese  Buddhists 
concerning  the  devil-nature. 

"Lord,"  he  says,  "we  demons  are  countless 
in  number.  Each  of  us  has  his  own  duty  assigned 
to  him;  we  are  engaged  either  in  helping  men 
or  in  harming  them,  in  accordance  with  the  fate 
that  they  have  brought  upon  themselves.  We 
ask  for  leave  to  wander  through  the  world  of 
men,  where  there  is  so  much  evil,  so  little  good. 
When  we  come  to  a  house — whether  it  be  a  city 
mansion  or  a  farmer's  cottage — in  which  we  find 
a  single  man  or  a  single  woman  engaged  in  doing 
good,  be  it  on  ever  so  small  a  scale,  or  showing 
reverence  for  the  Buddhas  and  holy  things,  though 
it  be  only  by  the  offer  of  an  altar-ornament,  or 
the  burning  of  a  little  incense,  or  the  laying  of  a 


186  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

single  flower  before  Buddha's  throne,  or  the  devout 
recital  of  one  verse  of  a  hymn  of  praise — when 
we  come  to  the  house  of  such  a  one  as  this,  we 
demons  will  hold  such  man  or  woman  in  highest 
honour.  Let  but  the  holy  Buddhas,  past,  present, 
and  to  come,  vouchsafe  to  grant  the  permission 
we  crave,  and  it  will  then  be  our  privilege  to  act 
as  guardian-spirits  of  the  homes  of  all  righteous 
men  and^women  and  to  prevent  disaster,  sickness, 
and  misfortune  from  approaching  their  doors." 

To  this  remarkable  speech  Buddha  makes 
a  gracious  reply,  commending  "  Evil  Poison  "  and 
his  fellow  -  demons  for  their  laudable  desire  to 
range  themselves  on  the  side  of  virtue. 

"You  and  your  companions,  and  Yenlo 
himself,"  says  Buddha,  "  are  empowered  to  guard 
and  watch  over  good  men  and  good  women ; 
and  1  will  command  the  lord  Indra,  the  mighty 
guardian  of  devas,  to  become  your  divine  patron." 

With  regard  to  this  reference  to  the  god 
Indra,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  Brahman 
deities,  when  allowed  to  figure  in  Buddhist 
mythology,  are  always  kept  in  their  proper 
place  of  subordination.  A  "  god "  like  Indra 
has  earned  his  divine  position  by  good  karma, 
but  the  accumulated  merit  which  sent  him  to 
heaven  will  in  time  be  exhausted,  and  he  will 
revert  to  a  condition  perhaps  inferior  to  that 
of  men.  The  "gods"  are  treated  with  com 
paratively  slight  respect  by  Buddhism,  because 
they,  like  men,  are  still  subject  to  the  law 


VIIL]  THE   LORD   OF  FATE  187 

of  change.  They  are  inferior  not  only  to  a 
Buddha,  but  to  any  one  who  has  advanced  so 
far  along  the  road  to  Buddhahood  that  he 
is  henceforth  in  no  danger  of  retrogression. 
According  to  the  Buddhist  theory,  moreover, 
the  state  of  Buddhahood  is  never  reached 
direct  from  any  of  the  "  heavens "  of  the 
Brahman  system.  The  "god"  who  aims  at 
Buddhahood  must  be  born  again  as  man  in 
order  that  he  may  arrive  at  bodhisatship,  which 
is  the  final  stage  short  of  Buddhahood.1 

The  next  speaker  is  a  demon  who  bears 
the  imposing  name  of  Chu-ming  ("  Lord  of  Fate  "). 
"  My  lot,"  he  says,  addressing  Buddha,  "is  to 
control  the  destiny  of  all  men  in  respect  of 
both  their  lives  and  their  deaths."  His  own 
earnest  desire,  he  explains,  is  that  happiness 
shall  be  the  lot  of  all  mankind :  men's  failure 
to  attain  happiness  is  not  due  to  him,  or  to 
any  other  power  or  influence  outside  them 
selves,  but  is  attributable  entirely  to  their 
own  lack  of  righteousness  and  their  own  errors. 
The  greater  part  of  his  speech  is  concerned 
with  the  religious  and  ceremonial  observances 
which,  he  says,  are  rightly  associated  with  the 
two  extremes  of  human  life.  He  tells  us  that 
the  spirits  and  demons  hostile  to  man  are  apt  to 
show  special  activity  at  the  time  of  birth  and  in 
the  hour  of  death.  They  assail  the  woman  in 
childbirth,  because  it  is  their  malignant  desire 

1  Cf.  p.  68. 


188  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [OH. 

to  injure  or  destroy  her  offspring ;  they  assail 
the  dying,  because  they  desire  to  gain  posses 
sion  of  the  discarnate  soul  and  make  it  their 
plaything  in  hell.  It  is  therefore  of  great 
importance  that  men  should  be  provided  with 
proper  safeguards  when  they  enter  and  when 
they  make  their  exits  from  the  stage  of  life. 
A  woman  in  childbirth,  we  are  told,  must  on 
no  account  be  fed  on  a  flesh  diet  or  given  any 
food  which  has  involved  the  slaughter  of  a 
living  animal.  This  injunction  is  not  merely 
a  reiteration  of  the  Buddhist  commandment 
against  killing,  but  is  based  on  sympathetic 
magic.  If  the  woman  spares  the  lives  of 
other  beings,  so  will  her  own  offspring  live 
and  prosper;  if  she  causes  the  destruction  of 
other  lives,  so  will  the  fruit  of  her  own  womb 
pine  and  die.  Again,  when  a  man  draws  near 
to  death,  and  sickness  or  old  age  clouds  his 
judgment  and  numbs  his  faculties,  the  evil 
spirits  who  are  waiting  for  his  soul  will  appear 
before  his  dying  eyes  in  deceitful  and  seductive 
shapes,  diverting  his  mind  from  thoughts  of 
the  Buddhas.  Let  him  defeat  the  devils  by 
reading  the  scriptures  and  calling  upon  the 
names  of  the  holy  ones.  Unless  his  life  has 
been  so  bad  that  nothing  can  save  him  from 
the  pains  of  hell,  the  baffled  devils  will  assuredly 
leave  him  unharmed.  Chu-ming  himself  under 
takes  to  further  the  good  cause  which  Ti-tsang 
has  at  heart  by  doing  his  best  to  rescue  sinners 


VIIL]  USE   OF   IMAGES  189 

from  the  grasp  of  devils  less  benevolent  than 
himself.  Sakyamuni  listens  graciously  to  Chu- 
ming's  speech,  and  utters  some  words  of 
encouragement ;  then,  turning  to  Ti-tsang,  he 
delivers  the  prophecy  that  this  demon,  owing 
to  his  tender  and  merciful  dealings  with  men, 
will,  in  time  to  come,  lose  his  demonhood,  and 
at  a  certain  period  in  the  remote  future  (one 
hundred  and  seventy  kalpas  hence)  will  become 
a  Buddha. 

The  next  section  of  the  sutra  consists  of 
an  enumeration  by  Ti-tsang  of  the  names  of 
various  Buddhas  of  past  ages  and  a  description 
of  the  blessed  lot  of  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  them.  The  next,  of  greater  interest,  eulogizes 
the  men  and  women  who  are  charitable  and 
sympathetic,  and  who  devote  themselves  to  the 
relief  of  the  sick,  the  crippled,  and  the  aged. 
Thereafter  we  have  a  section  which  contains 
a  speech  from  a  powerful  earth  -  spirit  who 
joins  the  throng  of  spiritual  beings  who  have 
assembled  to  do  honour  to  the  name  of  Ti- 
tsang.  A  passage  on  the  merit  of  making 
and  paying  reverence  to  images  and  pictures 
of  the  pusa  is  of  interest,  as  it  gives  our  com 
mentator,  the  monk  Ch'ing-lien,  an  opportunity 
of  emphasizing  the  truth  that  no  sanctity  attaches 
to  images  and  pictures  as  such,  and  that  their 
sole  use  *s  to  stimulate  the  religious  imagination 
and  to  engender  feelings  of  veneration  for  the 
spiritual  reality  of  which  they  are  an  imperfect 


190  TI-TSANG  PUS  A  [CH. 

expression.  Images  of  the  Buddhas  may  be 
of  gold  or  silver  or  copper  or  iron,  and  they 
may  be  exposed  to  public  reverence  in  a  shrine 
made  of  clay  or  stone  or  bamboo  or  timber — 
so  says  the  text.  But  let  us  remember,  says 
the  commentator,  that  the  truth  which  these 
outward  shows  are  intended  to  shadow  forth 
has  no  local  habitation,  nor  can  it  be  said  to 
belong  to  north,  south,  east,  or  west — that  is 
to  say,  it  has  no  spatial  relations.  The  image 
serves  its  purpose  if  it  helps  to  bring  the 
human  spirit  into  communion  with  the  divine, 
but  it  is  rightly  to  be  regarded  as  a  means 
and  not  as  an  end. 

This  view  of  images  is  undoubtedly  that  of 
educated  Buddhists  in  China  —  though  the  un 
educated  and  superstitious  multitude,  to  whose 
minds  nothing  is  conceivable  as  having  real 
existence  unless  it  is  cognizable  by  the  bodily 
senses,  and  who  do  not  understand  the  uses 
of  symbolism,  are  of  course  prone  to  become 
mere  worshippers  of  stone  and  clay,  in  Canton 
or  Peking  as  in  Moscow  or  Rome. 

The  sutra  next  introduces  us  to  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  pusas,  Kuan-yin  —  the  glorious 
being  who,  as  we  have  seen,1  is  one  of  the 
three  divinities  who  preside  over  the  so-called 
Western  Paradise,  and  who,  like  Ti-tsang,  is 
a  guide  and  saviour  of  mankind.  In  this  sutra 
Kuan-yin  is  only  brought  in  to  give  Buddha  an 

1  -See  p.  103. 


viii.]  FAITH  IN  TI-TSANG  191 

opportunity  of  showering  further  praises  on 
Ti-tsang,  who  is  here  described  as  the  supporter 
and  comforter  of  the  poor,  the  hungry,  the  sick, 
the  oppressed,  the  dying,  and  the  dreamer  of 
evil  dreams.  The  believer  in  Ti-tsang  may 
ascend  dangerous  mountains,  traverse  trackless 
forests,  cross  deep  rivers  and  seas,  travel  on 
robber  -  haunted  roads  —  he  need  only  repeat 
with  faith  the  name  of  Ti-tsang,  and  he  will 
be  surrounded  and  protected  by  the  ghostly 
guardians  of  the  soil,1  who  all  reverence  that 
pusa's  name.  Travelling  or  resting,  waking  or 
sleeping,  the  believer  will  always  be  attended 
by  an  invisible  bodyguard ;  even  wild  beasts 
and  poisonous  reptiles  will  be  powerless  to  do 
him  harm.  Not  if  he  spoke  for  a  hundred 
thousand  kalpas,  says  Sakyamuni,  could  he 
exhaust  the  manifold  blessings  that  result 
from  a  good  man's  faith  in  Ti-tsang.  Finally, 
Sakyamuni  stretches  forth  his  arm  and  touches 
the  pusa's  head. 

"Oh  Ti-tsang,  Ti-tsang,"  he  says,  "your 
spiritual  might  is  beyond  the  reach  of  thought. 
So  too  are  your  loving  pity,  your  knowledge,  and 
your  wisdom.  If  all  the  Buddhas  were  to  spend 
innumerable  ages  in  declaring  the  glory  of  your 
works,  they  would  not  be  able  to  say  all  that  is 
your  due." 

He   then   encourages    Ti-tsang    to    continue    his 
benevolent  task  of  saving  those  who  are  still  in 

1  Tu-ti  kuei  shen. 


192  TI-TSANG   PUS  A  [CH. 

the  "  burning  house "  of  sin  and  delusion  and 
watching  over  them  so  that  they  may  fall  into 
misery  no  more.  Finally  he  declares  that 
owing  to  Ti  -  tsang's  transcendent  virtue  as 
redeemer,  salvation  will  be  extended  not  merely 
to  those  who  have  lived  good  lives,  but  also  to 
those  who  have  sown  only  a  minute  number 
of  good  seeds,  those  whose  personal  merit  is 
as  small  as  a  hair,  or  a  speck  of  dust,  or  a 
grain  of  sand,  or  a  drop  of  water.  In  the 
very  jaws  of  hell  Ti-tsang  will  come  to  their 
help  and  set  them  free. 

Ti-tsang  now  kneels  before  the  throne  of 
Buddha  and,  clasping  his  hands,  solemnly  repeats 
his  promise  to  devote  himself  to  the  salvation  of 
mankind.  A  speech  in  praise  of  Ti-tsang  by  a 
fellow-pusa  named  Hsii-k'ung-tsang  is  followed 
by  a  final  address  by  6akyamuni,  who  enumerates 
twenty-eight  different  kinds  of  blessings  which 
will  be  conferred  upon  those  who  choose  Ti-tsang 
for  their  patron  and  saviour.  The  last  of  the 
twenty-eight  is  the  attainment  of  Buddhahood. 

The  closing  scene  shows  Sakyamuni  and 
Ti-tsang  receiving  the  homage  of  the  whole  vast 
assembly  of  pusas  and  other  spiritual  beings  by 
whom  the  Taoli  heaven  is  thronged.  Celestial 
hands  bring  offerings  of  heavenly  raiment  and 
jewels,  and  showers  of  sweet-scented  blossoms  fall  at 
the  feet  of  the  Lord  Buddha  and  the  great  pusa. 

To  one  of  the  modern  editions  of  this  sutra 1 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  edition  published  at  Ku-shan  in  1886. 


VIIL]  FILIAL   PIETY  195 

is    appended    a     note     to     the     effect    that    the 
printing-blocks  "have  been  reverently  carved    by 
the    ordained     monk     Ching  -  hsi     and     his    two 
brothers,"   and   that    they   have    carried   out   this 
work  of  piety  in   the   prayerful   hope   that   their 
mother,  Wu    Shih,   might   enjoy  a   long,   happy, 
and   prosperous   life.      Inscriptions    of   this    kind 
are  very  frequently  to  be  found  in   the  reprints 
of    Buddhist    tracts    and    books.      It    is    hardly 
necessary  to   say  that   Buddhism   lays   almost   as 
much  stress  on  filial  piety  as  does  Confucianism 
itself.      Were    it    otherwise,    indeed,    Buddhism 
would  never  have  struck  a  deep  root  into  Chinese 
soil.      In    the    case    of    the    Ti-tsang    sutra     an 
inscription   of    the    kind   referred   to   is   specially 
appropriate,   inasmuch   as   this   work   is   regarded 
as    occupying    a    place     in     Buddhist     literature 
similar  to   that   occupied  in  Confucian  literature 
by  the  Hsiao    Ching,  or  Classic  of  Filial   Piety. 
Indeed  the  commentator  Ch'ing-lien,  describes  it 
as   "  The   Gospel   of    Filial   Piety   as   expounded 
by  our   Lord   Buddha." l     The   sutra   has    earned 
this  high  distinction  owing  to  the  many  passages 
in  which  the  cardinal  Chinese  virtue  is  emphasized 
and   illustrated,   though    in    other    respects   it   is 
hardly   deserving   of  special   praise.      It   may   be 
regarded,   however,   as    a    typical    example   of   a 
large     and     influential     subdivision     of     Chinese 
Buddhistic    literature,    and    our    summary   of  its 

1   Wo  Fo  so  shuo  chih  Hsiao  Ching. 

N 


194  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [CH. 

contents  will  justify  us  in  dispensing  with 
an  examination  of  many  similar  sutras  dealing 
with  those  great  pusas — Wen-shu,  P'u-hsien,  and 
Kuan-yin  —  who,  with  Ti-tsang,  are  religiously 
associated  with  our  Four  Famous  Mountains.1 

Next  to  nothing  about  the  cult  of  Ti-tsang 
(whose  very  name  will  be  strange  to  many 
Western  readers)  is  to  be  found  in  European 
books  on  Chinese  Buddhism ;  and  the  little  that 
exists  is  by  no  means  free  from  error.  It  has 
been  supposed,  for  instance,  that  he  is  "  the  ruler 
of  hell,"  and  a  student  of  Buddhism  has  even 
hazarded  the  suggestion  that  he  is  rightly  to  be 
identified  with  Yama — the  Chinese  Yenlo.  That 
these  conjectures  are  erroneous  the  reader  of 
the  foregoing  pages  is  now  aware.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  see  how  the  mistake  has  arisen.  It 
was  vaguely  understood  that  prayers  are  addressed 
to  Ti-tsang  on  behalf  of  those  who  are  supposed 
to  be  suffering  the  pains  of  hell,  and  it  was  known 
that  the  ruler,  or  one  of  the  rulers,  of  hell  is  a 
being  named  Yenlo  :  therefore  (so  it  was  assumed) 
Ti-tsang  and  Yenlo  are  one  and  the  same.  We 
now  know,  however,  that  Ti-tsang  is  a  blessed 
pusa,  a  glorious  saviour-deity,  who  visits  hell  only 
on  errands  of  love  and  mercy  ;  whereas  Yenlo, 
king  and  judge  among  devils,  is  himself  one  of 
the  damned.  It  is  true  that  a  popular  title  of 
Ti-tsang  is  Yu-ming-chiao-chu — Lord  and  Teacher, 
or  Pope,  of  the  Underworld — and  that  another 

1  See  p.  147. 


JIZO. 

(Tl-TSANG   PUS  A.) 


[Facing  /.  194. 


VIIL]  YAMA  195 

of  his  titles  is  Yu-tu-wang — King  of  the  Dark 
City;  but  these  names  do  not  signify  that 
Ti-tsang  actually  holds  the  position  of  hell's 
king  or  judge.  They  mean  that  he  is  the 
master  and  guide  of  those  who  look  to  him 
for  salvation  from  its  torments — the  conqueror, 
rather  than  the  ruler,  of  hell. 

Yenlo   is   the    Chinese    name   for   the    Vedic 

and    Brahmanical    and     Iranian     hero     or    deity 

Yama.     In    India    and    Persia   he  was    identified 

with    several    different    divinities    and    forces    of 

nature.      A    predominating    belief    was    that    he 

was  the   son   of  the   god    Vivasat    and   appeared 

on  earth  as  the  "first  man."     After  his  death  he 

became  ruler  over  the  souls   of   dead   men.     His 

twin-sister   Yami,    the    "first   woman,"    similarly 

became    ruler   over   the    souls   of    dead    women.1 

In  the    epic    of  the  Mahabhdrata,  Yama    figures 

as  a  "  king  of  hell,"    and    it    is   in    this    capacity 

that  he  has  been  recognized  by  popular  Buddhism 

in    China.     The   story   of  how   he    came   to    be 

ruler   of  the    damned   is    told    thus:    Ages    ago 

Yenlo    was    an    ordinary    human    monarch    and 

ruled  over   the   kingdom  of  Vaisali,  in  Northern 

India.     Once   when    at   war  with  the   king   of  a 

neighbouring  state  he  was  in  danger  of  suffering 

defeat   in    a    great   battle,    and    swore    a    mighty 

oath  that  if  the  powers  of  the  underworld  would 

come  to  his   help  and   give   him   the   victory,  he 

1  According  to  a  Brahmanic  belief,  Yama  was  one  of  the  numerous 
forms  of  the  god  Agni,  and  Yami  was  the  Earth. 


196  TI-TSANG   PUS  A  [CH. 

and  his  followers  would  agree  to  be  reborn  in 
hell.  Thereupon  eighteen  generals  suddenly  made 
their  appearance  at  the  head  of  a  million  warriors, 
all  of  whom  fought  on  his  side  with  terrific 
rage  and  ferocity.  The  battle  was  soon  won, 
and  the  king  marched  victoriously  through  the 
territory  of  his  defeated  neighbour.  But  the 
oath  was  not  forgotten,  for  the  king  in  his  next 
incarnation  was  born  as  principal  king  of  hell. 
The  eighteen  generals  became  the  eighteen  minor 
kings,  and  their  million  warriors  were  also  reborn 
in  hell  as  demon-lictors. 

Yenlo  as  king  of  hell  possesses  a  grand  palace, 
and  multitudes  of  servile  devils  are  always  at 
his  beck  and  call ;  but  his  life  is  not  unmixedly 
happy.  Three  times  every  twenty  -  four  hours 
his  majesty  is  seized  by  a  band  of  devils  and 
laid  flat  on  a  scorching  frying-pan.  His  mouth 
is  then  forced  open  with  an  iron  hook,  and  a 
stream  of  molten  copper  is  poured  down  his 
throat.  After  this  he  is  set  at  liberty  and 
allowed  to  amuse  himself  with  the  female  devils 
of  his  court  until  the  time  comes  for  the 
punishment  to  be  repeated. 

Yenlo  is  sometimes  described  as  a  shuang-wang, 
or  "  double-king."  This  is  really  a  Chinese  transla 
tion  of  the  Sanskrit  Yama,  which  means  "twin." 
According  to  one  interpretation,  the  word  shuang 
("  double  ")  has  reference  to  the  king's  alternating 
experiences  in  hell,  the  torture  of  the  boiling 
copper  being  always  succeeded  by  the  exhilarating 


VIIL]  EVIL  NOT   ETERNAL  197 

companionship  of  the  demon-ladies.     But,  accord 
ing  to  another  view,  the  word  implies  that  Yenlo 
possesses    two    personalities — male     and     female. 
In    Indian    legend,   as    we    have    seen,   the   two 
are  known  as  Yama   and   Yami,  who  as  brother 
and  sister  hold  joint  rule  over  the  denizens  of  hell. 
This  literal  interpretation  of  the  term  shuang  has 
not   commended   itself  to  Chinese  Buddhists,    by 
whom  the  existence   of  Yami  is  usually  ignored. 
According  to  the  Buddhists,  Yenlo  has   been 
one  of  hell's  chief  kings  for  countless  past  ages, 
and  a  king   of  hell   he  must   remain   for   a   long 
time   to   come.      But   neither   he   nor   any   other 
inhabitant  of  that   dismal   region  is   regarded   as 
eternally  damned.     It  is  important  that  we  should 
remember    that    the    doctrine    of    everlasting   or 
eternal  punishment  is  not  inculcated  by  Buddhism, 
and  would,  indeed,  be   utterly  repugnant   to   the 
Buddhist   theory   of    spiritual    evolution.      Every 
living_being  will   sooner  or  later  attain  the  bliss,. 
of  Buddhahood,  and  from  this  rule  the  souls^in 
hell  are  not   excepted.     This  being  so,  we 
not  be  surprised  to  find  that  in  Buddhism  there 
is   no   recognition   of    the    existence    of    a    spirit     / 
of    unmitigated   evil.     There    is    no   Satan:    the/ 
innumerable    hells     of    darkness    and    pain     are/ 
thronged   by    the    spirits    of    men    and    women 
languishing    in   utter    misery,    but    among    these 
tortured   hosts   there    is   not    a    single   soul   that 
will   not    at   last   purge   itself  from   all    sin   and 
foulness  and  win  its  way  to  the  light. 


198  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [CH. 

To  the  believing  Buddhist,  then,  the  task 
undertaken  by  the  compassionate  Ti-tsang  is  not 
a  vain  or  hopeless  one.  In  bursting  the  gates  of 
hell  by  the  touch  of  his  staff,  and  in  dispelling 
hell's  darkness  with  the  radiance  of  his  wondrous 
jewel,  he  is  but  hastening  an  inevitable  con 
summation  —  the  triumph  of  good  and  the 
annihilation  of  all  evil.  Thus  it  is,  as  we  have 
seen  in  our  sutra,  that  the  very  king  of  hell 
and  his  devils  join  the  saints  of  heaven  in  offering 
praise  and  honour  to  Ti-tsang.1  So  far  are  Yenlo 
and  his  fellow-devils  from  regarding  Ti-tsang  as 
their  enemy  that  they  themselves  volunteer  to 
hasten  the  final  defeat  of  evil  by  shielding  all 
virtuous  men  and  women  from  moral  or  physical 
injury.2  This  implies  not  only  that  the  very 
fiends  are  engaged  in  working  their  upward  way 
towards  the  light,  but  also  that  only  the  wicked 
are  in  any  danger  of  falling  even  temporarily 
into  the  hands  of  demons.  Like  the  Lady  in 
Milton's  Comus,  the  truly  virtuous  and  pure- 
minded  man  or  woman  will  pass  unharmed 
through  the  serried  ranks  of  evil  spirits.  That 
the  religious  imagination  of  the  West  should 

1  Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  saying  about  Satan's  sick-bed 
repentance  :  "when  the  devil  was  ill  the  devil  a  monk  would  be,"  etc. 
It  is  curious  to  note  that  a  very  similar  observation  has  been  made  of 
Yenlo,  who  in  the  midst  of  his  torments  in  hell  is  said  to  have  sworn 
an  oath  that  when  he  is  released  from  punishment  and  born  again  as  a 
man  he  will  enter  the  monkhood.  But  the  Buddhist  fancy,  unlike  that 
of  the  Christian  satirist,  assumes  that  the  devil  will  not  go  back  on  his 
word. 

2  See  pp.  185-6,  187-9. 


vm.l  BUDDHIST  DEMONOLOGY  199 

conceive  of  "the  Devil"  as  characterized  by 
utter  malevolence  towards  mankind  and  defiant 
hatred  towards  God  is  a  natural  accompaniment 
of  the  pessimistic  conception  that  Lucifer  and 
the  rest  of  the  "  fallen  angels "  and  other 
denizens  of  hell  are  irremediably  damned  to  an 
eternity  of  hopeless  woe ;  but  this  gloomy  theory 
(which  Christianity  seems  to  have  inherited 
from  Judaism)  has  no  counterpart  in  the  more 
merciful  demonology  of  the  Buddhists,  who 
realize  that  the  existence  of  an  eternal  hell 
would  be  the  eternal  proof  of  an  irreversible 
victory  —  if  only  a  partial  one  —  of  evil  over 
good. 

We  are  not  concerned  in  these  pages  with 
the  various  changes  and  adaptations  which 
Buddhism  has  undergone  in  Japan ;  but  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  among  the  many 
Buddhist  divinities  whose  cult  has  taken  firm 
root  in  that  country  Ti-tsang  holds  one  of  the 
highest  places  in  popular  affection  and  reverence. 
His  Japanese  name  is  Jizo,  —  a  wx>rd  which 
merely  represents  the  Japanese  sounds  of  the 
two  Chinese  characters  which  in  China  are 
pronounced  Ti-tsang.  In  essentials  there  is  no 
difference  between  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese 
conceptions  of  the  functions  and  attributes  of 
the  pusa,  but  in  Japan  he  has  been  endowed 
with  one  most  pleasing  characteristic  which  is 
in  that  country  the  chief  source  of  his  popu 
larity.  He  is  pre-eminently  the  protector, 


200  TI-TSANG   PUSA  [CH. 

comforter,  and  loving  friend  of  dead  children.1 
Perhaps  religious  reverie  has  seldom  evolved  a 
more  pleasing  fancy  than  this  —  that  the  stern 
vanquisher  of  hell,  the  bearer  of  the  world's 
burdens,  the  steadfast  hero  whose  duty  it  is  to 
strive  with  hosts  of  demons  and  to  face  the 
ghastliest  terrors  of  the  underworld,  is  at  the 
same  time  the  gentlest  and  most  lovable  of 
spiritual  beings,  the  tender  playmate  of  little 
children.2 

A  Chinese  monk  describes  Ti-tsang  thus :  He 
is  the  guide  and  counsellor  of  men  during  the 
ages  that  must  elapse  between  the  passing  away 
of  the  last  Buddha  (Sakyamuni)  and  the  coming 
of  the  next  (Maitreya).  He  is  the  ship  of  mercy 
that  conveys  mankind  across  the  perilous  seas  of 
pain  and  sorrow ;  the  torch  that  illumines  the 
dark  ways  of  our  earthly  life ;  the  path  that 
leads  direct  to  heaven :  the  gate  that  opens  upon 
the  Way  of  the  Buddha.  Another  commentator 
observes  that  ordinary  well-meaning  men  think 

1  A  charming  account  of  the  Jiz5  cult  may  be  found  in  Lafcadio 
Hearn's  Glimpses  of  Unfamiliar  Japan,  i.  34  ff.  (London  :  1905).     He 
describes  a  certain  sculptured  image  of  Jiz5  as  ' '  a  dream  in  white  stone 
of  the   playfellow  of  dead  children,,  like  a  beautiful  young  boy,  with 
gracious  eyelids  half-closed,  and  face  made  heavenly  by  such  a  smile  as 
only  Buddhist  art  could  have  imagined — the  smile  of  infinite  loving- 
ness  and  supremest  gentleness."     For  the  portraits  of  Jizo  in  this 
book  I  am  indebted  to  a  Japanese  Buddhist  scholar,  Mr  Tachibana. 

2  I  should  like  to  draw  my  reader's  attention  to  a  striking  passage 
in  Mr  A.  C.  Benson's  semi-allegorical  picture  of  the  world  beyond  the 
grave  in  his  Child  of  the  Dawn,  pp.  205-6.      The  Lord  of  the  Tower  of 
Pain,  ( '  the  most  tried  and  trusted  of  all  the  servants  of  God,"  who  had 
to  endure  <(  all  the  pain  of  countless  worlds,"  proved  to  be  ' '  the  most 
beautiful  and  gracious  sight  of  all  that  I  saw  in  my  pilgrimage." 


VIIL]        TI-TSANG'S   LOVE   FOR   MANKIND         201 

first  of  securing  their  own  salvation,  and  then 
consider  the  advisability  of  saving  others ;  but 
Ti-tsang  puts  the  welfare  of  every  creature  in  the 
universe  before  his  own.  Another  writes  thus — 

"  The  great  teacher  Ti-tsang  countless  ages 
ago  uttered  a  most  solemn  vow  that  he  would 
take  upon  himself  the  sins  and  burdens  of  all 
creatures  in  all  the  six  states  of  existence,1 
and  that  he  would  teach  and  exhort  men  to 
hold  fast  to  the  true  religion  so  as  to  promote 
the  development  of  all  virtue.  Patiently  he 
endures  anguish  and  toil,  for  he  is  greatly  com 
passionate  and  greatly  pitiful."  2 

Ti-tsang's  chief  claims  to  religious  reverence 
are  his  love  for  mankind,  his  willingness  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  all  sufferers,  and  his  victorious 
descents  into  hell  for  the  purpose  of  releasing 
tormented  souls.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  these 
functions  or  qualities  have  parallels  in  the  myths 
and  doctrines  of  several  religious  systems  outside 
China,  the  Western  reader  will  naturally  ask 
whether  there  is  here  any  evidence  of  indebtedness 
to  Christianity.3  The  general  problem  of  a  possible 


1  9  5A  £  «  '$  ft  *  S  *  «  *  £ 

2  Quoted  in  Ti-tsang  Pen-yuan-ching  K(o-chu. 

3  Christ's  descent  into  hell  was  not  an  article  of  the  Christian  faith 
at  the  time  of  the  composition  of  the  earliest  form  of  the  so-called 
Apostles'  Creed.     The  descendit  ad  inferos  does  not  appear  in  the  Creed 
till  after  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  though  the  doctrine  itself 
seems  to  have  been  traditional  in  the  Church  at  a  much  earlier  period. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  tradition  was  of  independent  growth  and 
owed  nothing  to  any  non-Christian  source.     The  theories  as  to  the 
motive  of  the  descent  into  hell  have  been  numerous.     In  the  "  Faith 


202  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [OH. 

contact  between  the  two  great  religious  systems 
of  East  and  West  has  already  been  considered, 
and  we  found  reason  for  suspecting  that  neither 
Christianity  nor  Buddhism  directly  borrowed  from 
the  other,  but  that  to  a  certain  limited  extent  both 
availed  themselves  of  common  stores  of  religious 
material  —  common  not  only  to  Christian  and 
Buddhist  creed  -  makers,  but  also  to  the  builders 
of  other  religious  systems.1  It  is  very  possible, 
moreover,  that  some  of  the  numerous  legends 
about  the  descent  of  saviours  and  heroes  into  the 
nether  world  sprang  up  quite  independently  of  one 
another.  Such  legends  are  to  be  found  in  the 
religious  and  literary  traditions  of  peoples  as  widely 
separated  as  the  Greeks,  the  Finns,  the  West 
Africans,  the  American  Indians,  the  South  Sea 
Islanders  and  the  Japanese.  Coming  nearer  to 
the  regions  from  which  both  Christianity  and  the 
Mahayana  seem  to  have  drawn  some  of  their 
doctrinal  material,  we  find  that  the  Mandeeans 
made  their  Hibil  Ziwa  the  hero  of  a  descensus  ad 


of  St  Jerome"  (discovered  in  1903)  we  have  the  words  "crucified, 
buried,  descended  into  hell,  trod  down  the  sting  of  death,  rose  again  the 
third  day."  The  more  usual  theory  (taken  from  the  First  Epistle  of 
Peter  and  a  few  other  texts)  is  that  Christ's  descent  was  for  the 
purpose  of  preaching  to  the  ' '  spirits  in  prison  " — words  which  may 
have  formed  the  basis  of  what  has  been  called  "  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  legends,  that  of  the  deliverance  of  Adam's  spirit  from  the 
nether  world  by  the  Christ." — Dr  T.  K.  Cheyne  in  Encycl.  Brit. 
(llth  ed.),  i.  170.  He  points  out  that  the  earliest  form  of  the 
legend  is  a  Christian  interpolation  in  a  Jewish  text,  and  adds  that 
( '  we  may  compare  a  partly  parallel  passage  where  the  agent  is 
Michael." 

1  See  above,  pp.  37-39. 


VIIL]  BUDDHISM   AND   HINDUISM  203 

inferos,  and   that  a  similar   belief  was  associated 
with    Mithraism.      Mithras    was    regarded    as    a 
divine  friend  of  man,  a  saviour  from  death  and 
hell,  and — like  both  the  Chinese  Ti-tsang  and  the 
Greek  Hermes — a  ^XOTTO^TTO^  or  Guide  of  Souls. 
But  it  is  to   India  and  Hinduism  that  we  must 
look  for  the  undoubted  origin  of  the  beliefs  which 
associate   Ti-tsang  with   the   world   of  the  dead. 
Of  Krishna   we    learn   that    one    of  his   greatest 
feats  was  his   descent  into   hell,  where  he  over 
threw    Yama    and    rescued    some    of   the    souls 
of  the  condemned  sufferers  ;  and  somewhat  similar 
stories    are     told     about     Havana     in     the    epic 
of    the   Rdmayana,    about    Yudhishthira    in   the 
Mahabhdrata,  and  also  about  the  divine  Vishnu. 
Such  stories   as    these   were   probably   embedded 
in    Indian    religious    tradition    long    before    they 
made  their  appearance  in  literary  form,  and  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  say  precisely  at  what  period 
they  came  to  be  accepted  by  Buddhism.     We  may 
remember,  however,  that  the  very  deep  influence 
which  Hinduism  has  had  on  the  development  of 
Chinese  Buddhism  is  due  to  the  fact  that  during 
the   whole   period   of   the   missionary   activity   of 
Indian   Buddhists   in   China,  Buddhism   in   India 
was   slowly   and    surely   losing    its    characteristic 
features  and  becoming   absorbed  into  the  general 
system  of  Indian  religious  thought,  which  assimi 
lated  all  that  it  found  congenial  in  both  Buddhism 
and  Brahmanism.1     The  result  of  the  assimilating 

1  Cf.  p.  24. 


204  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [CH. 

process  was  the  religion  we  now  know  as 
Hinduism  ;  but  before  that  process  was  complete 
it  would  have  puzzled  many  a  Chinese  Buddhist — 
and  many  a  native  of  India  too — to  say  where 
Buddhism  ended  and  Hinduism  began ;  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  Hinduism  entered 
China  under  the  auspices  of  a  Buddhism  which 
had  already  lost  much  of  its  own  self-consciousness. 
While  studying  the  beliefs  relating  to  the 
various  divine  or  semi  -  divine  personages  who 
occupy  prominent  positions  in  the  Mahayana 
mythology,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by  the 
frequent  repetitions  of  the  same  ideas  in  slightly 
different  forms.  We  shall  often  find  that  all  or 
nearly  all  the  qualities  and  functions  ascribed 
to  this  or  that  pusa  are  identical  with  those 
ascribed  to  others,  and  the  Western  mind  will 
be  very  apt  to  grow  impatient  at  the  apparently 
needless  multiplication  of  divine  personalities  all 
possessing  the  same  or  very  similar  characteristics. 
Practically  all  that  has  been  said  of  Ti-tsang,  for 
example,  might  be  transferred  without  material 
alteration  to  Kuan  -  yin ;  even  in  his  errands  of 
mercy  to  tortured  souls  in  hell  Ti-tsang  can  lay 
claim  to  no  originality,  for  Kuan-yin  is  credited 
with  exploits  of  precisely  the  same  kind.1  The 
vows  taken  by  the  saviour-bodhisats  are  all  very 
much  the  same,  and  most  of  the  Mahayana  sutras 
describing  the  deeds  and  virtues  of  the  pusas 

1  Vajrapani  (see  the  Bodhlcharyavatara  of  Santi-Deva)  is  also  supposed 
to  visit  hell  on  errands  of  mercy. 


VIIL]  MAHAYANA   MYSTICISM  205 

might  easily  be  applied,  with  the  alteration  of 
very  little  besides  names,  to  the  celebration  of 
each  of  the  great  pusas  in  turn.  We  should  be 
wrong,  however,  if  we  were  to  conclude  that 
these  facts  prove  a  lack  of  originality  in  the 
religious  imagination  of  the  Buddhist  writers. 
No  serious  attempt  is  made  by  them  to  disguise 
the  resemblances  between  one  pusa  and  another: 
on  the  contrary,  such  resemblances  often  seem  to 
be  given  almost  unnecessary  emphasis,  as  though 
the  writers  wished  to  compel  the  least  thoughtful 
reader  or  worshipper  to  comprehend  something  of 
the  unity  that  underlies  all  external  manifestations 
of  religious  energy.  It  is  the  belief  of  the 
Mahay  ana  mystics  that  all  the  Buddhas  and 
bodhisats  are  ultimately  an  undifferentiated  One, 
which  constitutes  the  only  Reality.  He  who 
holds  this  belief  may  worship  Ti-tsang  at  the 
sacred  hill  of  Chiu-hua  or  elsewhere,  but  in  doing 
so  he  will  know  that  through  Ti-tsang  he  is  paying 
reverence  to  Kuan-yin  and  Wen-shu  and  P'u-hsien 
and  all  the  myriad  Buddhas  and  pusas  in  all 
the  myriad  worlds  that  comprise  the  universe. 
Similarly,  at  Wut'ai  he  will  praise  the  holy  name 
of  Wen-shu,  at  Omei  that  of  P'u-hsien,  at  Puto 
that  of  Kuan-yin ;  but  he  will  know  that  the  real 
object  of  his  worship  has  been  in  all  cases  the  same. 
These  conceptions  are  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  majority  of  the  throng  of  worshippers  who  year 
by  year  ascend  the  steep  pilgrim  -  path  of  the 
beautiful  mountain  of  Chiu  -  hua.  The  object  of 


206  TI-TSANG  PUSA  [CH.  vm. 

their  quest  is  Ti-tsang  and  Ti-tsang  only,  for  to 
them  he  is  no  phantom,  no  mere  abstraction,  but 
a  powerful  deity  who  can  and  will  be  a  guide  and 
protector  to  suffering  humanity,  especially  in  the 
dark  ways  of  death.  Yet  some  of 'the  pilgrims 
know  that  it  is  not  in  images  of  clay  or  bronze 
that  they  can  hope  to  find  the  real  Ti-tsang,  and 
they,  while  performing  all  the  outward  rites  that 
are  expected  of  them,  will  look  for  Ti-tsang  not 
in  garnished  temple  or  in  curtained  shrine,  but 
rather  in  the  secret  places  of  their  own  hearts. 
Each  human  being  is  himself  the  bearer  of  the 
staff  that  will  break  open  the  gates  of  hell,  and 
the  possessor  of  the  jewel  that  will  illumine  the 
darkness  through  which  his  own  soul  is  groping. 
So  long  as  he  is  sunk  in  sensuous  delusion,  or  in 
sin,  or  in  selfishness,  or  is  led  astray  by  the  false 
glare  of  worldly  wealth  and  honours,  he  will  be 
encompassed  by  all  the  dangers  that  beset  a  blind 
man  who  is  wandering  guideless  in  a  strange  land ; 
but  deep  in  his  inmost  nature  (ti)  there  is  stored 
(tsaiig)  a  treasure  which,  if  he  will  only  clear  away 
the  dust  and  rubbish  under  which  it  lies  concealed, 
will  assuredly  prove  to  be  everlastingly  precious 
and  incorruptible.  Similarly,  the  only  hell  that 
man  need  fear  is  the  hell  that  he  creates  for 
himself  out  of  his  own  evil  thoughts  and  deeds. 
Purity  of  thought  is  Ti-tsang's  jewel,  strength  of 
character  is  his  staff,  and  these  are  the  weapons 
against  which  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail. 


"The  hell  that  is  ruled  by  the  judges  of  the 
dead  is  no  other  than  the  hell  that  is  within  your 
own  heart.  If  there  be  no  hell  within  your 
heart,  the  judges  of  the  dead  will  have  no  hell 
for  you  hereafter." 

[From  the  Yii-li-chih-paoJ\ 

The  large  character  at  the  top  stands  for 
Heart  or  Mind. 


{Facing  p.  206. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    PRINCE-HERMIT    OF    CHIU-HUA    AND 
HIS    SUCCESSORS 

AT  the  commencement  of  the  foregoing  chapter 
it  was  mentioned  that  Ti-tsang  was  the  patron 
divinity  of  Chiu-hua-shan,  but  nothing  has  yet 
been  said  to  indicate  any  connection  between 
the  pusa  and  the  mountain.  The  story  which 
associates  the  two  is  soon  told. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  of 
our  era  a  certain  foreigner  named  Chin  Ch'iao- 
chio,1  a  native  of  a  country  named  Hsin-lo 
(according  to  the  modern  Pekingese  sounds), 
came  to  China  by  sea  and  landed  on  the  coast 
of  Kiangsu.  He  was  a  man  of  wealth  and 
consequence  in  his  own  country,  for  he  was 
a  prince  of  the  royal  house  and  a  near  rela 
tive  of  the  king;  but  riches  and  high  position 
had  no  attraction  for  Ch'iao-chio,  whose  tempera 
ment  was  deeply  religious,  and  who  longed 
for  nothing  better  than  to  become  a  life  -  long 
disciple  of  Buddha.  It  was  in  the  guise  of  a 

1  Ch'iao-chio,  which  may  be  translated  "Lofty  Enlightenment/' 
was  his  fa-ming,  or  name  in  religion  ;  Chin  was  what  we  should  call 
his  surname. 

207 


208  THE   PRINCE-HERMIT  OF   CHIU-HUA   [CH.  ix. 

humble  Buddhist  monk  that  in  or  about  the 
year  741  he  set  out  from  his  native  land,  his 
only  object  being  to  wander  among  the  holy 
mountains  of  central  China  until  he  should 
have  the  good  fortune  to  find  among  them 
some  home  of  peace  in  which  to  spend  the 
tranquil  life  of  a  contemplative  recluse.  His 
choice  was  soon  made.  No  sooner  had  he 
espied  the  cloud  -  piercing  heights  of  Chiu  -  hua 
than  he  felt  impelled  to  explore  its  deepest  and 
loneliest  recesses,  and  thither  he  made  a  path  for 
himself  through  the  brambles  and  brushwood 
and  tangled  creepers.  In  this  secluded  region 
the  princely  hermit  dwelt  contentedly,  isolated 
from  human  companionship,  and  dependent  for 
subsistence  on  the  wild  herbs  of  the  hillside. 
But  though  separated  from  mankind,  he  was 
not  neglected  by  beings  of  another  order; 
spiritual  beings  were  his  companions  and  pro 
tectors,  and  we  are  told  that  once  when  he  was 
bitten  by  a  venomous  animal  his  wound  was 
tended  by  a  fairylike  creature  who  caused  a 
miraculous  stream  of  healing  waters  to  issue 
from  a  rock. 

By  degrees  the  fame  of  the  recluse  spread 
far  and  wide  among  the  people  of  the  neighbour 
ing  plains.  In  the  year  756  a  man  named  Chu- 
ko  Chieh  and  a  party  of  friends  from  the  district 
city  visited  him  in  his  mountain  retreat,  and 
found  him  sitting  meditatively  in  the  stone  hut 
which  he  had  built  for  himself.  Looking^into 


ix.]  THE   HERMITS  DEATH  209 

his  cooking -pot  they  found  nothing  but  a 
handful  of  what  appeared  to  be  white  clay  and 
boiled  millet  —  his  only  fare.  Touched  at  this 
evidence  of  Ch'iao-chio's  frugality,  Chu-ko  and 
his  friends  threw  themselves  at  his  feet, 
imploring  him  with  tears  to  treat  himself  more 
generously  and  promising  to  provide  him  with 
a  better  place  to  live  in  and  an  endowment  of 
land.  They  were  as  good  as  their  word.  Later 
on,  some  of  his  admirers,  of  whom  one  was  a 
man  named  Sheng  Yli,  built  for  him  a  beautiful 
monastic  dwelling,  in  which  he  spent  the  rest  of 
his  life  surrounded  by  a  few  devoted  disciples, 
among  whom  were  a  few  of  his  own  country 
men  who  followed  him  into  voluntary  exile. 

He  died  in  794,  at  the  great  age  of  ninety- 
nine,  having  lived  at  Chiu-hua  for  more  than  half 
a  century.  The  spirits  of  the  streams  and  peaks 
joined  his  disciples  in  mourning  his  loss,  for  we 
are  told  that  at  the  hour  of  his  death  there  was 
heard  a  crashing  of  rocks  and  a  sound  of  moan 
ing  in  the  hills.  But  it  was  not  till  after  his 
death  that  the  monks  and  hermits  of  Chiu-hua 
discovered  the  real  secret  of  their  revered 
master's  identity.  Three  years  after  his  decease 
the  coffin  was  opened  in  order  that  the  remains 
might  be  deposited  in  the  tomb  that  had  been 
specially  prepared  to  receive  them :  and  lo !  the 
dead  monk's  body  showed  no  trace  of  decay,  and 
his  complexion  was  that  of  a  living  man.  A 

o 


210      THE  PRINCE-HERMIT   OF   CHIU-HUA       [CH. 

strange     thing     happened,     however,     when    the 
body   was  lifted  up :  for   the  bones  gave   forth  a 
sound   like   the   rattling   of    golden    chains.     Re 
membering     a     passage     in     their    sacred    books 
which    tells    how    the   relics  of  a   pusa    may   be 
known  by   the  fact  that  when  touched  or  lifted 
they  give  forth  the  sound  of  rattling  chains,  the 
monks     realized     for    the    first    time    that    their 
master    was     indeed     divine ;  i     and    when    they 
reflected    on    the    boundless  love   and   tenderness 
of   his    nature    they   felt   assured   that    he   could 
have   been  no   other  than    an  incarnation  of  the 
loving    and    pitiful    pusa    Ti-tsang.      This    belief 
was  confirmed   by  the   miracle   which  took  place 
after  the  body  of  the  saint  had  been  laid  in  its 
new   tomb  ;    for    out    of   the   ground  came   forth 
a  tongue  of  fire  which  curled  itself  upwards  and 
remained    for    a    long    time   suspended   over   the 
grave  like  a  flaming  aureole. 

Miracles  apart,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  Chin  Ch'iao-chio  was  a  real  person,  that  he 
was  a  native  of  a  country  called  Hsin-lo,  and 
that  he  spent  many  years  of  his  life  as  a  hermit 
on  Chiu-hua-shan.  But  where  was  the  kingdom 
of  Hsin-lo  ?  It  has  always  been  assumed  by  the 
few  European  travellers  and  missionaries  who 

1  There  seems  to  have  been  a  somewhat  similar  superstition  with 
regard  to  the  bodies  of  Christian  saints.  We  are  told,  for  example,  that 
after  the  sacred  bones  of  Pascal  Baylon  had  been  enshrined,  "a  noise 
and  a  clatter  could  be  heard  from  within  the  relic  shrine  every  time 
the  Host  was  raised  above  the  altar,  as  if  the  bones  had  knocked 
against  the  walls  of  the  chest"  (Yrjo  Hirn's  The  Sacred  Shrine, 
1912,  p.  121). 


ix.]  KINGDOM   OF   HSIN-LO  211 

have  mentioned  the  saint  of  Hsin-lo  that  he 
was  a  prince  of  Siam.  This  assumption  is 
erroneous,  though  the  mistake  on  the  part  of 
Europeans  may  be  readily  excused  when  we 
find  that  it  has  also  been  made  by  native 
scholars.  An  examination  of  the  historical 
records  of  Chiu-hua  and  a  scrutiny  of  various 
stone  tablets  preserved  in  the  mountain  - 
monasteries  reveal  the  fact  that  the  prince's 
home  is  sometimes  described  as  Hsin-lo  (Sf  $1) 
and  sometimes  as  Hsien-lo  (i§  f|).  Hsien-lo  is 
the  ordinary  Chinese  name  for  Siam  ;  Hsin-lo  is 
the  almost  forgotten  name  of  a  certain  kingdom 
of  south-eastern  Korea,  which  became  extinct  in 
the  tenth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  A 
perusal  of  the  inscriptions  and  records  makes  it 
clear  that  the  recluse  of  Chiu  -  hua  was  not  a 
native  of  Siam  but  a  native  of  the  Korean 
kingdom  of  Hsin-lo  or  (to  adopt  the  native 
pronunciation  of  the  Chinese  characters)  Sil-la. 
The  confusion  obviously  arose  from  the  careless 
ness  or  ignorance  of  some  Chinese  monks  of  the 
Ming  and  Ch'ing  dynasties  who,  having  never 
heard  of  the  long  extinct  kingdom  in  south 
eastern  Korea,  assumed  that  the  word  Hsin-lo 
was  merely  an  erroneous  or  old-fashioned  variant 
of  Hsien-lo.1 

That  no  prince  from  Siam  could  have  travelled 
to    China    in  the    eighth    century   is    sufficiently 

1  The  matter  is  sensibly  discussed,  and  a  correct  conclusion  come 
to,  in  the  Chiu-hua-shan-chih,  x.  Zff. 


THE   PRINCE-HERMIT  OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

obvious  from  the  fact  that  it  was  not  till  a  much 
later  period  that  the  southern  section  of  the  Tai 
race  succeeded  in  establishing  a  kingdom  on  what 
we  now  know  as  the  Gulf  of  Siam.     The  great 
southward  movement  of  the  race  was  mainly  the 
result    of   certain    important    political    events    in 
China,  which  did  not  take  place  till  the  thirteenth 
century,  and   it  is  hardly  correct   to   speak  of  a 
kingdom   of  Siam   until   about   a   hundred   years 
later.     A  Tai  prince  of  the  eighth  century  would 
probably   have   entered    China    through    Yunnan, 
which  was  at  that  time  under  the  control  of  various 
sections  of  the  Tai  race.     A  clue  to  our  princely 
wanderer's  real  place  of  origin  is  to  be  found  in 
his  own  surname,  which  is  given  in  all  the  records 
as   Chin   or   Kin    (ife).       Now  if  we  turn  to  the 
scanty  annals  of  the  old  Korean  kingdom  of  Sil-la, 
we  find  that  this  was  indeed  the  name  (pronounced 
Keum    in    Korean)    of   the    line    of    kings    who 
occupied  the  throne  at  the  very  time  when  Chin 
Ch'iao-chio  is  said  to  have  come  to  Chiu-hua-shan. 
Further,  it   may  be  observed   that  the   monastic 
records   of  other  parts  of  Central  China  contain 
ample  evidence  that  there  was  frequent  intercourse 
between  the   Buddhists   of    Korea  and   those    of 
China;    and  the  recluse  of  Chiu-hua  was  by  no 
means   the  first   or  the  last  native   of   Sil-la   to 
take  up  his  residence  in  a  Chinese  monastery. 

The  beginnings  of  the  kingdom  of  Sil-la 
are  ascribed  to  the  first  century  B.C.  It  was  one 
of  the  three  ancient  Korean  states,  the  others 


ix.]  KOREAN  KINGDOMS  213 

being  Pai-chi,  or  Paik-chyoi,  and  Kao-chli-li,  or 
Ko-ku-ryo.1  The  royal  house  of  Chin  was  of 
ancient  lineage,  for  we  hear  of  a  king  of  that 
time  as  early  as  the  year  262 — Keum-mi-chhu. 
Coming  down  to  the  year  668  we  find  that  by 
this  time  Sil-la  had  become  the  most  powerful 
state  in  the  Korean  peninsula,  for  Paik-chyoi  had 
been  extinguished  after  its  submission  to  China, 
and  Ko-ku-ryo  had  recognized  Sil-la  as  its  suzerain. 
The  Chin  or  Keum  family  was  still  (or  again)  in 
possession  of  the  throne  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries.  Chin  Li-hung  or  Hyo-syo-oang  reigned 
from  692  to  701,  and  his  brother  Syong-tok-oang 
from  702  to  736.  If  our  hermit  were  really  a 
king's  son,  it  is  possible  that  one  of  these 
monarchs  was  his  father.  In  737  a  son  of  Syong- 
tok-wang  named  Hyo-syong-wang  ascended  the 
throne,  but  only  reigned  four  years.  The  last 
year  of  his  reign  (741)  was  the  very  year  in 
which  Chin  Ch'iao  -  chio  is  said  to  have  started 
on  his  life-long  exile.  The  kingdom  of  Sil-la 
continued  to  exist,  with  varying  fortune,  till  the 
year  935,  when  the  fifty-sixth  king  gave  in  his 
submission  to  the  monarch  of  a  united  Korea. 

From  the  time  of  Chin  Ti-tsang  (as  our  royal 
recluse  is  often  named)  to  the  present  time  the 
records  of  Chiu-hua-shan  are  continuous ;  but  of 
the  previous  history  of  the  mountain  we  have 
only  scanty  information.  The  Taoist  adepts  of 
two  thousand  and  more  years  ago  seem  to  have 

1  Pai-chi  and  Kao-chu-li  represent  the  modern  Pekingese  sounds. 


THE    PRINCE-HERMIT  OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

regarded  it  as  a  spur  of  the  Huang  mountain, 
which  lies  to  the  south,  and  which,  with  its  thirty- 
six  haunted  peaks  and  its  hot  springs,  has  always 
had  a  great  reputation  as  the  home  of  Taoist 
"  immortals."  The  shadowy  Emperor  Huang- ti 
(2698  B.C.)  is  said  to  have  travelled  thither  in 
the  company  of  a  wizard  named  Fou-ch'iu,  his 
purpose  being  the  same  as  that  which  moved  him 
to  visit  Omei-shan  and  other  mountains  —  the 
mastery  of  the  secret  of  longevity.  This  was  a 
pursuit  in  which,  if  the  Chinese  dates  of  those 
remote  ages  are  to  be  trusted,  he  met  with  very 
creditable  success,  for  he  reigned  for  a  hundred 
years,  and  then  (according  to  some  authorities) 
went  to  heaven  without  dying. 

Among  other  distinguished  Taoists  who  visited 
Chiu-hua  is  Tou  Po-yti,  who  lived  about  100  B.C. 
He  became  magistrate  of  the  neighbouring  district 
city,  and  set  himself  to  govern  the  people  in 
accordance  with  the  precepts  of  Lao-tzu.  On 
one  occasion  he  went  a-fishing  and  caught  a  white 
dragon,  which  he  promptly  released.  The  dragon's 
gratitude  was  such  that  Tou  became  endowed 
with  magic  powers,  and  at  the  end  of  his  long 
life  the  white  dragon  came  and  carried  him  off 
to  Paradise.  His  two  daughters  also  attained 
immortality  by  transforming  themselves  into  a 
pair  of  wild  ducks  and  flying  after  their  father. 

Still  more  famous  was  Ko  Hung,  who  lived 
in  the  fourth  century  of  our  era.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  wandering  from  mountain  to  mountain 


ix.]         WIZARDS   AND   BUDDHIST   MONKS         215 

in  order  to  pry  into  nature's  secrets  and  to  collect 
the  ingredients  of  the  elixir  of  life ;  but  he  found 
time  to  write,  under  the  name  of  Pao  P'o-tzti, 
a  curious  and  fascinating  book  about  Taoist 
marvels,  and  he  also  composed  biographies  of  the 
hsien-jen,  or  mountain  rishi. 

Yet  another  Taoist  expert  who  visited  Chiu- 
hua  in  his  rambles  was  Chang  Kuo-lao,  of  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries.  He  was  himself 
a  noted  hsien-jen,  and  he  is  classed  among  the 
select  company  of  the  Pa  listen,  or  Eight  Rishi, 
who  are  very  familiar  figures  in  Chinese  art  and 
legend.1 

The  first  Buddhist  monk  who  lived  at  Chiu- 
hua  is  said  to  have  been  one  Pei  Tu,  a  pilgrim 
from,  and  native  of,  India.  He  reached  the 
mountain  in  the  year  401  of  our  era  and  erected 
a  small  hermitage.  Our  authorities  differ  as  to 
the  name  and  situation  of  this  building.  Some 
say  the  founder  styled  it  the  Chiu-hua-ssu,  and 
that  it  subsequently  gave  its  name  to  the 
mountain.  Others  say  he  chose  the  name  because 
it  was  already  that  of  the  mountain.  It  is  also 
said  that  in  the  year  780  the  Throne  officially 
recognized  the  existence  of  this  monastery  and 
changed  its  name  to  Hua-ch'eng-ssii.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  weight  of  authority  supports  the 

1  There  is  a  hill  in  the  Weihaiwei  territory  (at  present  under 
British  rule)  which,  according  to  the  local  folklore,  was  cut  in  half  by 
Chang  Kuo-lao.  One  half  was  carried  off  to  Manchuria  for  some 
mysterious  reason,  the  other  half  remains  in  situ,  and  is  still  known  as 
pan-pi-shan,  the  "  cut-in-half  hill." 


216      THE   PRINCE-HERMIT   OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

view  that  the  Hua-ch'eng-ssii  was  no  other  than 
the  monastery  which  was  built  for  Chin  Ti-tsang 
by  Sheng  Yii  and  his  friends ;  and  it  is  certainly 
the  case  that  the  saint's  name  has  always  been 
associated  with  this  monastery,  which  to  this  day 
(after  many  demolitions  and  restorations)  remains 
the  principal  religious  house  on  the  mountain 
and  the  centre  of  the  cult  of  Ti-tsang.  It  is  by 
no  means  impossible,  however,  that  Sheng  Yu's 
monastery  was  built  on  the  site  of  an  older 
hermitage  which,  three  and  a  half  centuries 
earlier,  had  been  the  home  of  the  monk  Pei  Tu. 
Thus  both  stories  may  contain  truth,  and  we 
shall  perhaps  be  not  far  wrong  if  we  conclude 
that  though  the  Buddhistic  history  of  Chiu-hua 
goes  back  to  the  year  401,  the  mountain  owes 
its  sanctity  mainly  to  the  fact  that  an  incarnate 
pusa  chose  it  as  his  dwelling-place  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century. 

As  to  the  name  of  the  mountain,  the  best 
authorities  agree  that  the  old  name  was  Chiu-tzu- 
shan,  which  may  possibly  be  taken  to  mean  the 
"  Mountain  of  the  Nine  Philosophers,"  and  per 
haps  contained  a  reference  to  the  row  of  peaks 
which  crown  the  summit  of  the  range  and  give 
it  a  fantastic  appearance  when  viewed  against  the 
sky-line  from  the  plain  below.  The  alteration  of 
the  name  to  Chiu-hua  —  "Nine  Flowers"  —  is 
ascribed  to  the  great  T'ang  dynasty  poet  Li  Po 
(eighth  century)  who  seems  to  have  paid  his  first 
visit  to  the  mountain  not  long  before  the  arrival 


ix.]  THE   POET   AND  THE   HERMIT  217 

of  the  stranger  from  Hsin-lo.  The  poem  in  which 
the  name  Chiu-hua  appears  for  the  first  time  is 
said  to  have  been  written  by  Li  Po  when  he 
caught  sight  of  the  peaks  from  his  boat  on  the 
Yangtse  River  and  likened  them  to  the  upturned 
petals  of  the  lotus.1 

There  is  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  the 
great  poet  and  the  Korean  recluse  met  on  Chiu-hua 
and  had  many  a  long  talk  and  ramble  together. 
A  Chinese  essayist  has  dwelt  on  this  story  with 
much  delight,  and  quotes  a  proverb  to  the  effect 
that  "  a  meeting  between  Chuang  and  Meng 
would  be  a  sight  worth  looking  at."  Chuang  and 
Meng  were  the  philosophers  Chuang-tzu  and 
Mencius,  of  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  B.C. 
An  Englishman,  in  a  similar  mood,  might  picture 
to  himself  a  meeting  between  Shakespeare  and 
Rare  Ben  at  the  "  Mermaid."  We  know  too 
little  of  Chin  Ti-tsang  to  justify  any  positive 
statements  as  to  his  intellectual  or  conversational 
capacity ;  but  Li  Po  is  universally  admitted  to 
have  been  one  of  the  wittiest  and  most  brilliant 
men  of  letters  that  China  has  ever  produced,  and 
a  mountain  ramble  in  his  company  must  have 
been  an  exhilarating  experience  even  for  a  saintly 
recluse.  Li  Po  himself  had  no  pretentions  to 
sainthood,  though  one  of  the  names  by  which 
he  is  best  known  to  his  idolizing  countrymen  is 

1  It  should  be  mentioned  that  the  authenticity  of  the  poem  is 
not  beyond  dispute,  and  it  is  excluded  from  some  editions  of  the  poet's 
works.  It  will  be  found  in  the  Chiu-hua-shan-chih,  viii.  2. 


218      THE   PRINCE-HERMIT  OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

that  given  him  by  a  brother-bard — the  "  Banished 
Angel."1  Another  of  the  titles  genially  bestowed 
upon  him  by  his  admirers  was  the  "  Inspired 
Drunkard " :  for  Li  Po,  like  many  a  poet  before 
and  since  his  time,  loved  to  see  the  "beaded 
bubbles  winking  at  the  brim."  When  he  was 
a  little  boy,  it  is  said,  he  had  a  dream  that  from 
the  tip  of  his  brush -pen  there  burst  forth  sweet- 
scented  flowers.2  No  one  who  is  qualified  to  judge 
of  Li  Po's  poetry  will  deny  that  the  dream  came 
true  and  that  the  flowers  are  immortal. 

Chin  Ti-tsang  himself  is  said  to  have  wielded 
the  pen  of  both  poet  and  essayist  with  very 
creditable  results.3  A  little  poem  by  the  recluse 
is  preserved  in  the  annals  of  Chiu-hua.  It  consists 
of  an  eight-line  stanza,  and  is  addressed  to  a  boy 
who  had  long  been  his  faithful  servant  and 
companion,  on  the  eve  of  the  boy's  return  to  the 
busy  world  of  the  plains.  In  English  prose  the 
gracefulness  of  the  original  is  lost,  but  its  general 
sense  may  be  expressed  thus : — 

"  Lonely  and  still  is  the  life  of  the  recluse,  and 
your  heart  longs  for  home.  Bid  farewell,  my  boy, 
to  this  cloudland  hermitage,  and  then  leave  the 

1  This  is  Professor  H.  A.   Giles's  translation  of  the  Chinese  words 
tse  hsien. 

2  The  same  story  is  told  of  the  fifth-century  poet  Chiang  Yen. 

3  This  fact  is  in  itself  sufficient  to  dispose  of  the  theory  that  he  was 
a  Siamese.     It  is  highly  improbable  that  a  Siamese  who  came  to  China 
as  an  adult  could  have  learned  the  difficult  literary  language  of  that 
country  so  thoroughly  as  to  be  able  to  compose  essays  and  verses  that 
were  worthy  of  commendation  by  native  scholars  ;  whereas  a  Korean 
of  high  birth  would  have  been  taught  classical  Chinese  in  his  child- 
hood,  and  would  probably  speak  the  language  with  perfect  fluency. 


ix.]  PILGRIM-ROUTES  219 

heights  of  Chiu-hua  for  ever.  Your  delight  has 
been  in  the  games  and  toys  of  childhood,  and  you 
have  loved  to  build  golden  castles  in  the  yellow 
sands.  But  now,  when  you  fill  the  water-jar  in 
the  stream  you  no  longer  try  to  catch  the  moon's 
reflection,  and  when  you  wash  the  bowl  in  the 
pond  you  care  no  more  to  play  with  the 
floating  bubbles.1  Go  now,  and  dry  those  fast- 
flowing  tears.  The  old  monk  will  have  the 
mists  and  clouds  for  companions  when  you 
are  gone." 

There  are  several  pilgrim-routes  to  Chiu-hua, 
but  the  nearest  port  on  the  Yangtse  from  which 
it  can  be  reached  is  Ta-t'ung,  in  the  prefecture  of 
Ch'ih-chou.  A  small  stream,  broad  and  shallow, 
comes  down  to  Ta-t'ung  from  the  mountain  and  is 
navigable  for  small  craft  for  several  miles.  After 
leaving  our  boat  at  a  point  near  the  hamlet  of 
Ch'ien  -  chia  -  lung  we  find  ourselves  on  a  path 
that  winds  through  undulating  country,  well 
cultivated  and  populous.  The  monastery  of  Lo- 
shan  ("Happiness  and  Virtue  ")  is  the  first  Buddhist 
building  on  our  route.  Opposite  the  main  gate 
way  and  on  the  left  side  of  the  pilgrim's  path  will 
be  seen  an  image  of  Ti-tsang.  Beyond  the  village 
of  Kuo  -  ming  -  kai  there  are  several  Buddhist 
temples,  and  also  a  notable  ancestral  temple 
belonging  to  the  Chang  family. 

1  The  meaning  is  that  the  boy  is  growing  out  of  childhood  and  is 
no  longer  content  with  childish  amusements.  He  is  thinking  of  his 
far-off  home  ;  and  the  moonlight  on  the  waters  and  the  hubhles  in  the 
pond  have  ceased  to  interest  him. 


220      THE   PRINCE-HERMIT   OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

The  traveller  who  leaves  Ta  -  t'ung  in  the 
morning  may  find  it  convenient  to  stop  for  the 
night  at  the  village  of  Miao-ch'ien-chen,  near  the 
base  of  the  mountain,  about  eleven  miles  from 
Ch'ien-chia-lung,  but  a  better  lodging  might  be 
found  in  one  of  the  monasteries  on  the  mountain 
itself.  Miao-ch'ien-chen  is  a  market  village  with 
a  good  three -arch  stone  bridge.  It  practically 
forms  one  village  with  the  place  called  Shan-ken 
("  Mountain-base  " ). 

The  pilgrim-season  lasts  from  September  to 
November,  which  is  a  pleasant  time  for  travelling 
in  the  Yangtse  valley.  Those  who  visit  the 
mountain  as  students  of  Buddhism,  or  with  the 
view  of  forming  a  correct  idea  of  how  the  popular 
forms  of  Buddhistic  belief  find  expression,  should 
certainly  choose  the  pilgrim  -  season  for  their 
journey,  though  they  may  sometimes  find  the 
inns  and  temples  inconveniently  crowded.  The 
country  itself  is  attractive  at  all  seasons,  for 
southern  Anhui  is  rich  in  trees,  plants,  and  flowers. 
Azaleas  and  rhododendrons  are  among  the  chief 
glories  of  the  spring,  and  the  beautiful  tints  of 
the  candle-tree  and  maple  are  the  pride  of  the 
autumn.  Chiu  -  hua  itself  was  once  densely 
forested,  and  its  valleys,  as  well  as  its  southern 
slopes,  are  still  well  wooded.  Among  the  trees 
to  be  found  on  mountain  or  plain,  or  on  both,  are 
the  evergreen  oak,  the  chestnut,  the  camphor,  and 
coniferse  of  many  varieties.  The  graceful  bamboo, 
which  has  been  so  constant  a  source  of  inspiration 


CHARM    USED   AT   CHIU-HUA   WHEN    OFFERING||PRAYERS 

FOR   OFFSPRING.  _> 

[Facing  p.  220. 


ix.]  THE   TEA   OF   CHIU-HUA  221 

to  artists  and  poets  in  China,  is  very  common ; 
rice  is  grown  in  terraced  fields ;  and  the  tea  plant 
flourishes  in  many  a  valley.  The  monks  them 
selves  cultivate  a  special  kind  of  tea  which,  accord 
ing  to  tradition,  was  brought  from  Hsin  -  lo  by 
Chin  Ti-tsang.  They  put  it  up  in  rectangular  tin 
canisters  bearing  the  name  of  the  mountain,  and 
large  quantities  of  it  are  disposed  of  annually  to 
the  pilgrims,  who  take  it  home  as  a  highly-prized 
trophy  of  their  visit  to  the  holy  mountain.  It 
should  be  mentioned  that  the  cultivation  of  tea 
(which  used  to  be  regarded  as  a  magic  herb  and 
as  one  of  the  necessary  ingredients  of  the  Taoist's 
elixir  of  life)  is  a  favourite  employment  of  the 
Buddhist  monks  in  many  parts  of  central  China 
besides  Chiu-hua. 

The  first  temple  beyond  the  village  of  Shan-ken 
is  called  the  original  First  Gate  of  Heaven.1  In 
the  small  village  of  Lao  T'ien  is  a  large  ancestral 
temple  of  the  Wu  clan.  Farther  on  we  pass 
the  Wu-hsiang-ssii  Hsia-yiian,  or  Branch  of  the 
Wu  -  hsiang  Monastery.  It  is  usual  for  large 
monasteries  to  have  branch  establishments  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain  or  in  the  neighbouring  plains, 
with  a  view  partly  to  the  supervision  of  business 
matters  connected  with  the  monastic  revenues  and 
partly  to  the  entertainment  and  guidance  of 
pilgrims  bound  for  the  mountain.  Hsia-yuan,  or 
Lower  Temple,  is  the  term  applied  to  such 
subordinate  houses. 

1  Ku  T'ou  Tien-men. 


222      THE   PRINCE-HERMIT  OF   CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

The  well-made  pilgrim's  path,  which  winds  all 
the  way  up  the  mountain-side,  passes  by  so  many 
monasteries  and  hermitages  that  a  list  of  their 
strange-sounding  names  would  be  wearisome  to 
the  Western  reader.  Let  us  confine  our  attention, 
then,  to  those  which  present  some  feature  of 
special  interest.  It  must  be  regretfully  admitted 
that  there  are  no  really  ancient  buildings  on 
Chiu-hua,  as  all  the  monasteries  were  destroyed 
by  the  T-ai-p'ing  rebels  during  their  devastating 
march  through  central  China  in  the  terrible  years 
1850  to  1864.  Nearly  all  the  monastic  buildings 
now  to  be  seen  on  this  mountain  have  been  built 
since  1865,  and  though  the  old  names  of  the 
monasteries  were  preserved,  and  the  ruins  made 
use  of  as  far  as  possible  in  the  process  of  restora 
tion,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  architectural 
and  artistic  glories  of  the  mountain  have  been 
sadly  dimmed.  Some  of  the  old  stone  tablets, 
with  their  inscriptions,  remain  intact,  but  these 
offer  but  slender  compensation  for  the  many 
buildings  and  articles  of  value  and  beauty  which 
were  totally  destroyed  by  the  ruffianly  armies  of 
Hung  Hsiu-ch'uan.  The  name  which  that  furious 
iconoclast  selected  for  the  new  era  which  he  hoped 
to  inaugurate  was  T'ai-p'ing  T'ien  Kuo — "  The 
Heavenly  Kingdom  of  Perfect  Peace."  But,  alas  1 
the  only  peace  which  he  succeeded  in  establishing 
among  his  sorely  -  stricken  countrymen  was  the 
peace  of  a  desert. 

A  temple  which  is  well  situated  close  by  a 


ix.]  "HALF   WAY   TO   THE   SKY"  223 

bridged  stream  and  bears  the  name  of  the  "  Temple 
of  the  Great  Bridge,"  or  the  "  First  Gateway  of 
Contemplation,"1  may  be  said  to  mark  the  beginning 
of  the  real  ascent  of  the  mountain.  The  first 
religious  house  of  importance  at  which  we  arrive 
is  the  monastery  of  "  Sweet  Dew." 2  It  was  founded 
in  1667,  at  the  suggestion  of  a  nature  -  loving 
pilgrim,  by  a  monk  named  Tung- An.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  it  secured  the  right  of  con 
ferring  ordination — a  privilege  which  can  properly 
be  exercised  only  by  those  houses  which  have 
received  an  official  diploma.  After  its  destruction 
by  the  T'ai-p'ings  in  1861  a  monk  named  Fa-yuan 
built  a  little  hermitage  on  the  old  site,  but  the 
monastery  was  not  rebuilt  till  1895.  It  owed  its 
restoration  to  the  unremitting  exertions  of  a  monk 
named  Ta-Hang,  who  in  1898  went  to  Peking  to 
enlist  the  imperial  sympathy  in  his  work — not 
without  some  success. 

Above  the  "  Sweet  Dew  Monastery  "  is  a  rock 
known  as  the  "  Rock  of  the  Tranquil-Mind,"  3  which 
is  said  to  have  been  a  favourite  resting-place  of 
the  poet-monks  of  Chiu-hua.  One  of  these  poets 
— Shen-Ying  of  the  T'ang  dynasty — lived  in  a 
temple  which  we  now  reach,  and  which  is  named 
after  a  Dragon's  Pool  in  the  vicinity.4  The  next 
temple  is  the  Shen-hsiu-an,  with  a  pavilion  named 
Pan-hsiao-t'ing — "  Half  way  to  the  sky."  Here 
there  is  a  shrine  to  the  spirit  of  the  mountain 

1  Ta-ch'iao-an  or  Ti-i-chfan-meii.  2  Kan-lu-ssu. 

3  Ting-Hsin-shih.  4  Lung-cVih-chfan-lin. 


224     TEE   PRINCE-HERMIT  OF  CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

(shan-shen)  with  an  interesting  modern  inscription 
by  one  Chou  Pin,  a  Confucian  scholar,  who  was 
liberal-minded  enough  to  take  a  deep  interest  in 
the  Buddhistic  lore  of  Chiu-hua,  and  was  co-editor 
of  the  latest  edition  of  the  annals  of  the  mountain. 

"  In  days  of  old,"  he  tells  us  in  this  inscrip 
tion,  "the  gods  of  the  land  and  grain  had 
names,  while  those  of  the  hills  and  streams  had 
no  names.  Thus  Kou-lung  tilled  the  soil  and 
Chu  and  Ch'i  sowed  the  crops.1  But  they 
performed  their  work  through  the  medium  of 
men's  labour,  hence  it  was  from  men  that  they 
derived  their  names.  But  streams  flowed  and 
hills  reared  their  crests  before  the  first  appear 
ance  of  men  in  the  world :  therefore,  though 
there  were  always  spiritual  beings  in  the  hills 
and  streams,  these  were  nameless  spirits." 

1  Kou-lung,  according  to  legend,  was  the  son  of  a  mythical  ruler, 
Kung-Kung,  and  came  to  be  associated  in  sacrifice  and  worship  with 
the  ' '  god  of  the  soil,"  Hou  Tfu,  with  whom  he  is  commonly,  but  not 
correctly,  identified.  Chu  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  son  of  the 
Emperor  Lieh-Shaii  or  Shen-rmng  (2838  B.C.),  and  under  the  Hsia 
(2205-1766  B.C.)  and  earlier  dynasties  was  associated  in  sacrifice  and 
worship  with  the  "  god  of  the  crops,"  or  Ku-shen.  Ch'i  was  the  son 
of  the  Emperor  Kao-hsin  (2436  B.C.),  and  has  been  similiarly  associated 
with  the  "god  of  the  crops"  since  the  rise  of  the  Shang  dynasty, 
(1766-1122  B.C.).  As  the  Shang  dynasty  superseded  the  Hsia,  so  did 
Chi  take  the  place  of  Chu.  The  emperors  of  the  Chou  dynasty,  which 
succeeded  the  Shang,  traced  their  descent  to  Chi,  who  consequently 
maintained  his  religious  position  under  the  Chou  rulers.  He  is 
generally  known  as  Hou  Chi,  Ruler  of  Crops,  though  this  name 
should  apparently  belong  by  right  only  to  the  deity  with  whom  Ch'i  is 
sacrificially  associated.  In  ordinary  language,  as  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  generally,  Kou-lung,  Chu,  and  Chi  are  actually  identified  with 
the  gods  of  soil  and  grain.  The  passage  in  the  text  is  an  example  of 
this  identification.  The  matter  is  ably  discussed  by  M.  Chavannes  in 
the  essay  oil  the  God  of  the  Soil  appended  to  his  Le  T'ai  Chan  (Paris  : 
1910).  See  especially  pp.  501-506,  520-525. 


ix.]  CONFUCIAN   HOSTILITY  225 

He  then  goes  on  to  discuss  the  rivalry  and  hostility 
that  have  characterized  the  relations  between 
Buddhists  and  Confucians,  and  tells  a  story  of 
an  eccentric  monk  who  disgusted  the  Confucian 
scholars  of  the  district  by  hanging  up  a  pair  of 
scrolls  in  his  temple  bearing  an  inscription  to  the 
effect  that  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  locality  was 
no  other  than  the  famous  T'ang  dynasty  states 
man,  essayist,  and  poet,  Han  Yii.1  As  Han  Yii 
had  been  a  determined  opponent  of  Buddhism 
and  a  strenuous  supporter  of  Confucianism,  the 
monk's  action  was  regarded  as  highly  improper. 
Complaints  were  made  to  the  authorities,  with 
the  result  that  the  scrolls  were  destroyed  and 
the  monk  flogged. 

It  does  not  seem  to  have  been  known  to  the 
author  of  our  inscription  that  the  unfortunate 
monk  who  declared  that  the  anti- Buddhistic  Han 
Yii  had  become  identified  with  the  t(u-ti  or  local 
tutelary  god  was  only  giving  expression  to  a 
widely  -  current  popular  belief.  Every  village, 
every  graveyard,  every  temple,  is  supposed  to 
have  its  own  particular  t'u-ti,  or  patron  divinity, 
who,  strictly  speaking,  is  nameless ; 2  but  there 
is  a  tendency  to  regard  each  t'u-ti  as  a  local 
manifestation  of  a  single  divine  personage  in 
whom  all  t'u-ti  are  unified,  and  it  is  a  curious 

1  This  name  is  one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  literary  annals  of 
China.     Han  Yii  lived  768-824,,  and  was  canonized  as  Han  Wen-kung. 

2  For  an  account  of  village  t'u-ti  in  Shantung,  see  Lion  and  Dragon 
in  Northern  China,  pp.  371-377. 

P 


THE   PRINCE-HERMIT   OF   CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

fact  that  in  many  parts  of  China  this  divine 
personage  has  come  to  be  identified,  in  some 
unexplained  way,  with  Han  Yii.  It  was  certainly 
rash,  however,  on  the  part  of  a  Buddhist  monk 
to  make  an  open  boast  of  the  fact  that  the 
famous  Han  Yii,  who  hated  Buddhism  in  his 
lifetime,  had  been  obliged  to  become  the  tutelary 
guardian  of  the  site  of  a  Buddhist  monastery 
after  his  death  ;  and  we  need  not  be  surprised 
that  the  Confucians  made  an  example  of  him. 

The  remainder  of  the  inscription  is  devoted 
to  a  reasoned  and  temperate  defence  of  Con 
fucianism,  as  a  guide  of  life,  against  the  claims 
of  Buddhism,  which,  if  they  were  made  good, 
says  our  scribe,  might  destroy  the  bases  of 
society.  He  argues  that  Confucianism,  with  its 
insistence  on  the  sanctity  of  the  human  relation 
ships  (ruler  and  subject,  husband  and  wife,  parent 
and  child),  makes  for  social  stability.  Not  only 
so,  but  Buddhists  themselves  are  dependent  on 
Confucian  ethic  even  while  they  try  to  supplant 
Confucianism.  By  abandoning  the  world  and 
its  ambitions,  and  by  extolling  the  merits  of  a 
celibate  life,  the  Buddhists  exercise  an  influence 
which,  if  not  checked,  would  obviously  be 
disruptive  in  its  effects  on  society ;  if  Confucian 
discipline  were  not  maintained  in  the  State,  the 
result  would  be  a  moral  and  social  anarchy  in 
which  Buddhism  itself  would  be  overwhelmed. 
The  hostility  shown  by  Buddhism  to  Con 
fucianism  recoils  on  Buddhism  itself,  which  is 


ix.]  CHOU  PIN   ON   BUDDHISM  227 

rejecting  its  own  sources  of  life  and  strength. 
Confucians  who  refuse  to  accept  Buddhism  are 
merely  cutting  themselves  off  from  a  religious 
system  which  they  can  take  or  leave  as  they 
choose,  and  which  is  in  no  wise  essential  to  their 
well-being;  whereas  Buddhists  who  are  hostile 
to  Confucianism  are  acting  suicidally,  by  un 
consciously  trying  to  deprive  themselves  of  things 
which  are  really  necessaries  of  life.  Moreover, 
Confucianism  is  universal  in  its  appeal,  Buddhism 
speaks  only  to  the  few.  That  is  to  say,  the 
whole  world  might  become  Confucian,  and  the 
world  would  be  all  the  better  for  having  done 
so ;  whereas  Buddhism  aims  at  isolating  its  own 
adherents  and  leaving  the  rest  of  the  world 
outside  its  fold.  Who  would  feed  and  clothe 
the  Buddhist  monks  if  there  were  no  Confucians 
left?  And  if  all  became  monks  and  celibates, 
who  would  be  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the 
Buddhists  of  the  future  ? 

Such,  in  crude  outline,  is  the  argument  of 
the  scholarly  Chou  Pin.  It  is  not  original,  for 
similar  views  have  been  urged  again  and  again 
by  Confucians  of  the  past,  but  is  interesting  as 
a  summary  of  some  of  the  reasons  which  have 
always  prevented  Buddhism  from  becoming  a 
really  national  religion  in  China.  The  case 
against  Buddhism  is  plausible,  but  by  no  means 
conclusive.  It  does  not  take  account  of  the 
fact  that  Buddhism  has  a  message  for  laymen 
as  well  as  for  the  monkhood,  and  that  man  does 


228      THE  PRINCE-HERMIT   OF   CHIU-HUA      [CH. 

not  live  by  ethical  systems  alone.  The  Chinese 
Buddhist,  moreover,  does  not  admit  that  his 
religion  is  incompatible  with  Confucianism,  though 
it  tries  to  provide  a  solution  for  some  of  those 
mysteries  which  Confucianism  confessedly  leaves 
unsolved.  He  takes  pride  in  being  a  Confucian 
as  well  as  a  Buddhist,  and  all  the  Confucian 
virtues  are  inculcated  in  his  books.  The  institu 
tion  of  a  celebate  monkhood  seems  inconsistent 
with  the  duties  which  a  man  owes  to  his  family, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  rearing  of  off 
spring  to  carry  on  the  ancestral  cult,  but  the 
inconsistency  is  more  apparent  than  real.  No 
one  is  allowed  to  accept  ordination  unless  he 
has  obtained  his  parents'  consent,  and  very  few 
men  will  seek  admittance  to  a  monastery  unless 
the  continuation  of  the  ancestral  rites  of  his 
family  has  been  already  provided  for.  It  is 
extremely  rare  in  China  for  an  only  son  to 
enter  the  monkhood — unless,  indeed,  he  is  already 
the  father  of  a  healthy  family. 

It  should  be  added,  however,  that  a  con 
siderable  proportion  of  the  ordained  Buddhists 
of  the  China  of  to-day  entered  the  monasteries 
as  children,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  said  to 
have  adopted  a  religious  life  from  personal  choice. 
The  motives  whereby  parents  are  sometimes 
impelled  to  devote  their  boys  to  the  service  of 
Buddha  are  various.  Sometimes  they  do  it  in 
fulfilment  of  a  religious  vow,  sometimes  on 
account  of  extreme  poverty.  It  seems  probable 


ix.]  PROSPECTS   OF   BUDDHISM  229 

that  the  dawn  of  a  progressive  era  in  China 
and  the  spread  of  popular  education  will  sooner 
or  later  have  the  effect  of  extinguishing  the 
supply  of  children  for  the  monasteries,  and  it 
will  be  interesting  to  observe  whether  Chinese 
Buddhism  possesses  a  sufficient  reserve  of  vitality 
to  enable  it  to  meet  the  difficulty.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  outlook  for  Buddhism 
is  not  hopeless,  provided  the  developments  in 
secular  education  are  met  by  a  revival  of  learn 
ing  in  the  monasteries,  and  provided  Buddhism 
makes  a  serious  and  continuous  effort  to  identify 
itself  with  the  moral  and  intellectual,  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  and  artistic,  interests  of  a  progressive 
China. 


CHAPTER   X 

MONKS    AND    MONASTERIES    OF    CHIU-HUA 

RESUMING  our  ascent  from  the  "  Half- way-to- 
heaven  "  pavilion,  and  passing  by  several  monastic 
buildings  of  no  special  interest,  we  come  to  the 
Ch'i-yuan  Monastery,  which  is  named  after  the 
famous  park  and  vihara  which  were  given  to 
Buddha  by  prince  Jeta  and  the  disciple  Sudatta. 
In  the  reign  of  Chia-ch'ing  (1796-1820)  the 
monastery  prospered  greatly  under  the  rule  of  a 
monk  named  Lung-shan.  This  abbot  died  at 
the  age  of  eighty-four,  and  in  view  of  his  spot 
less  life  and  high  reputation  for  sanctity  his 
disciples  embalmed  and  gilded  his  dead  body, 
and  set  it  up  in  a  shrine  in  the  monastery 
temple,  so  that  in  death  he  might  continue  to 
preside  over  the  religious  services  which  he  had 
so  long  conducted  in  life.  There  the  wizened 
features  of  the  dead  monk  are  still  to  be  seen 
by  all  comers,  and  are  regarded  with  awe  by 
countless  pilgrims  every  year.  The  monastery, 
we  are  told,  was  utterly  destroyed  by  the  T'ai- 
p'ing  rebels,  but  the  gilded  mummy  escaped 

injury,  and  was  set  up  again  in  its  old  shrine  as 

230 


CH.  x.]  BUDDHIST   MUMMIES  231 

soon  as  the  buildings  had  been  restored.  The 
restoration  was  effected  through  the  exertions  of 
a  zealous  monk  named  Ta-ken  ("Great  Root"), 
who,  says  the  chronicler,  proved  himself  to  be 
a  most  devoted  son  of  Buddha,  and  no  less 
worthy  of  praise  and  honour  than  Buddha's  own 
disciple  Sudatta. 

There  was  nothing  very  exceptional  in  the 
enshrining  of  the  preserved  body  of  the  old  abbot 
Lung-shan,  for  this  procedure  has  been  adopted 
in  the  case  of  ancient  and  revered  monks  in 
many  parts  of  Buddhist  China.  In  most  cases 
the  preserved  corpse  might  pass  for  an  ordinary 
gilded  or  lacquered  image,  and  it  is  with  some 
thing  of  a  shock  that  the  Western  visitor  learns 
(or  sometimes  discovers  for  himself)  that  the 
object  before  him  was  once  the  body  of  a  living 
man.  The  usual,  though  not  universal,  method 
of  disposing  of  the  dead  bodies  of  ordinary  monks 
is  by  cremation.  The  practice  of  mummifying 
and  exposing  the  bodies  of  distinguished  abbots 
and  other  saintly  persons  is  a  highly  disagreeable 
one,  and  will  soon,  it  is  hoped,  become  extinct. 
In  Tibet  the  bodies  of  the  Grand  Lamas  are 
preserved  in  the  manner  described,  and  it  was 
possibly  from  Tibet  that  the  practice  was 
borrowed,  for  there  seems  to  be  no  evidence 
that  the  custom  is  of  great  antiquity  in  China. 
Embalmed  and  robed  and  seated  cross-legged 
in  the  attitude  of  a  Buddha,  the  Lamas  of 
Lhasa  and  Tashilhunpo  are  exposed  to  public 


232  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

veneration  for  a  considerable  time  after  their 
death,  and  each  body  is  finally  enclosed  in  a 
gilded  tomb,  or  chorten,  which  is  thenceforward 
regarded  with  the  same  reverence  that  was 
previously  accorded  to  the  embalmed  body 
itself.1 

The  Ch'i-yuan  Monastery  derives  part  of  its 
prosperity  and  reputation  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  publishing  house  for  Buddhist  books  and 
tracts.  Here  the  Ti-tsang-pen-yuan-ching — the 
Sutra  of  the  Vow  of  Ti-tsang — is  never  allowed 
to  go  out  of  print,  for  there  is  always  a  demand 
for  it  among  the  pilgrims. 

A  little  higher  up  we  come  to  the  place 
where  Chin  Ti-tsang  was  cured  of  his  wound.2 
The  stream  of  water  which  his  fairy-nurse  caused 
to  issue  from  a  rock  is  still  flowing,  and  is  known 
as  the  Lung-nu-cfcuan,  or  "  Spring  of  the  Water- 
nymph."  Close  by  the  stream  there  once  stood 
a  building  which  was  formerly  one  of  the  chief 
attractions  of  the  mountain,  though  nothing 
now  remains  of  it  but  the  fragment  of  an  in 
scribed  stone.  Here  it  was  that  the  poet  Li  Po 
dwelt  when  he  paid  his  memorable  visits  to 
Chiu-hua.  After  762,  the  year  of  the  poet's 
death,  the  cottage  was  neglected  and  gradually 
became  a  total  ruin.  In  course  of  time  grass 

1  See  E.R.E.,  iv.  611.     The  reader  who  is  interested  in  this  curious 
subject  may  also  be  referred  to  a  valuable  paper  by  Dr  W.  Perceval 
Yetts  entitled  ' '  Notes  on  the  Disposal  of  Buddhist  Dead  in  China  "  in 
J.E.A.S.,  July  1911  (see  especially  pp.  709-725). 

2  See  above,  p.  208. 


x.]        MOUNTAIN   CLUBS   AND   COLLEGES         233 

grew  over  the  site,  and  it  came  to  be  used  as 
the  burial-ground  of  a  family  named  Chang; 
but  in  1237  the  district-magistrate,  a  man  of 
culture  named  Ts'ai  Yuan  -  lung,  caused  the 
ground  to  be  excavated.  Having  discovered  the 
foundations  of  the  poet's  cottage,  Ts'ai  proceeded 
to  erect  on  the  same  ground  a  kind  of  scholars' 
club,  or  meeting  -  place  for  students  and  poets 
and  other  persons  of  artistic  tastes.  It  was 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  great  poet,  and 
named  T'ai-po  Shu-t'ang,  or  School  of  Li  Po. 
Establishments  of  this  kind  are,  or  were,  to  be 
found  on  many  of  China's  famous  mountains ; 
some  attained  great  celebrity  and  attracted 
large  numbers  of  students,  for  these  little 
mountain  -  universities  were  often  the  resort  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  philosophers, 
artists,  and  men  of  letters  of  their  time.1  The 
club,  or  college,  founded  by  Ts'ai  flourished 
for  several  centuries.  The  buildings  underwent 
periodical  restorations,  of  which  the  most 
elaborate  took  place  between  the  years  1476 
and  1479.  The  T'ai-p'ing  rebels  did  not  treat 
Li  Po's  college  with  any  greater  respect  than 
they  showed  to  the  Buddhist  temples,  and 
nothing  remained  of  it  when  they  had  worked 
their  will  but  a  heap  of  ruins. 

We  now  arrive  at  a  mountain -village  chiefly 
consisting    of    shops    and    booths,    which     exist 

1  The  most  famous  was  the  College  of  the   White-deer  Grotto, 
Lu-shan. 


234  MONKS  AND    MONASTERIES  [OH. 

solely  for  the  convenience  of  pilgrims.  The 
goods  sold  include  children's  toys,  sweatmeats, 
Buddhist  books  and  images,  and  such  miscel 
laneous  articles  as  visitors  like  to  carry  away 
with  them  as  souvenirs  of  their  pilgrimage. 
Fortune-tellers  are  numerous,  and  their  methods 
are  as  various  as  those  practised  in  the  West. 
The  palmists  show  a  degree  of  skill  which  is 
only  surpassed  by  their  remarkable  self  -  con 
fidence.  The  telling  of  fortunes  takes  place, 
as  a  rule,  in  the  open  air  and  within  view 
and  hearing  of  a  large  body  of  interested 
spectators  and  auditors. 

Of  several  monastic  buildings  and  temples 
situated  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  village 
the  most  important  is  the  Hua-ch'eng-ssti.  This 
monastery,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  oldest 
foundation  on  the  mountain,  and  has  a  continu 
ous  history  from  the  eighth  century  of  our 
era.1  Whether  Sheng  Yii  and  his  companions 
were  its  original  founders,  or  whether  it  dates 
from  the  days  of  Pei  Tu,  between  three  and 
four  centuries  earlier,  cannot  now  be  determined. 
But  there  is  no  doubt  that  its  special  sanctity 
is  due  to  its  association  with  the  name  of  the 
prince  from  Hsin-lo,  the  incarnate  Ti  -  tsang. 
The  buildings  have  undergone  many  restorations 
in  the  centuries  that  have  elapsed  since  his 
time.  In  the  monastic  chronicle  special  mention 
is  made  of  the  work  done  by  the  monk  Fu- 

1  See  p.  215. 


CHIU-HUA-SHAN. 

(From  the  north-west.} 


CENTRAL   CLUSTER   OF   MONASTIC   BUILDINGS,   CHIU-HUA. 
(From  the  Eastern  Ridge.} 


{Facing  p.  234. 


x.]  IMPERIAL  PATRONAGE 

ch'ing  in  1435  ;    and  another  distinguished  monk 

was    Liang-yuan,    who    in    the    reign    of   Wan-li 

(1573-1619)    went    to    Court    and    was    received 

with    favour    by    the    emperor,    who    not    only 

presented   title  -  scrolls    for   some   of  the   temple 

buildings,    but    also    bestowed    purple    robes    on 

Liang  -  yuan     himself.       This     emperor     was     a 

zealous   patron   of  Buddhism,  and   it  was  in  his 

reign  and  under  his  patronage  that  a  new  edition 

of    the    whole    of   the    Buddhist    scriptures    was 

published.      Sets  of  this    edition   were  presented 

to  all  the  great  monastic  centres  of  the  empire, 

including  the  "Four  Famous  Hills."      A  special 

pavilion  was   erected   behind   the   main  buildings 

of  the   Hua-ch'eng   Monastery  for  the  reception 

of  the   set   which   had   been   presented  to   Chiu- 

hua.      In  the   eighteenth  century  the  monastery 

was  twice  honoured  by  imperial  notice.     K'ang- 

hsi  in   1705  presented  to  it  an  autograph  scroll 

bearing    the    words    Chiu-hua   sheng  ching — "the 

holy  region  of  Chiu-hua " ;  and  in  1766  a  similar 

scroll    was    presented    by    the    Emperor    Ch'ien- 

lung.       In    1857    the    monastic    buildings    were 

destroyed    by    the    rebels,    but    the    Library1    of 

Wan  -  li   remained    intact.       "  There    cannot    be 

any  doubt  that  it  was  preserved  by  a  miracle," 

remarks    a    recent    writer  named  Liu    Han-fang, 

who  goes  on  to  observe  with  evident  satisfaction 

that    subsequently    the    rebels    who    had    taken 

part  in   the  temple  -  burning  were  defeated  with 

1  Tsang-chincj-lou. 


236  MONKS  AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

immense  slaughter  and  thrown  into  the  Yangtse 
River.  "  Thus  was  divine  justice  vindicated 
before  men's  eyes."  The  restoration  of  the 
Hua  -  ch'eng  Monastery  was  not  put  in  hand 
till  1889. 

Opposite  the  monastery  is  a  fish-pond,  said 
to  have  been  originally  constructed  by  Sheng 
Yi'i.  The  majority  of  large  Buddhist  monasteries 
possess  a  pond  of  this  kind,  which  is  intended 
to  afford  a  practical  illustration  of  the  Buddhist 
commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  life  of 
any  living  creature."  It  is  regarded  as  an  act 
of  merit  to  supply  the  fish  with  scraps  of  food. 

There  are  several  monastic  buildings  in  close 
proximity  to  Hua  -  ch'eng,  but  the  only  one  to 
which  special  reference  need  be  made  is  a 
temple  which,  though  it  is  only  an  adjunct  of 
Hua-ch'eng,  is  the  crowning  glory  and  the  most 
sacred  shrine  of  Chiu-hua  —  the  Ju-shen  Pao- 
tien.  This  "Holy  Palace  of  the  Mortal  Body" 
is  a  temple  and  tomb  combined,  for  here  rest 
the  remains  of  the  incarnate  pusa  Ti  -  tsang, 
before  whose  gilded  image  incense  is  burned  by 
thousands  of  pilgrims  every  year. 

The  prayers  and  vows  uttered  by  the  pilgrims 
when  they  reach  this  shrine,  and  the  ceremonies 
performed  by  them  or  by  the  monks  on  their 
behalf,  are  of  various  kinds,  but  they  chiefly 
relate  to  death  and  the  next  world.  He  who 
wishes  to  pray  for  the  soul  of  a  lost  parent 
or  other  relative  obtains  from  the  monks  (in 


x.j  PRAYERS  TO  TI-TSANG  237 

return  for  a  small  donation)  a  sheet  of  yellow 
paper,  on  which  is  printed  a  prayer  to  Ti-tsang 
or  to  both  Ti  -  tsang  and  Amitabha.  Blank 
spaces  are  left  for  the  insertion  of  names  and 
dates.  The  form  of  words  is  to  the  following 
effect:— 

We   pray  that  you  will   have  compassion  on 

the  soul  of .  aged  -     — ,  who  was  born  on  the 

day  of  the year,  and  whose  soul  has  now 

taken  leave  of  its  earth -life  and  has  rejoined  the 
immortals.  Alas !  time  passes  all  too  quickly. 
We  weep  when  our  thoughts  turn  to  the  loved 
one  we  have  lost.  We  implore  you  to  take  him 
from  the  place  of  pain  and  to  lead  him  to  happiness. 

This  day,  the day  of  -      -  we  have  carried  out 

the  proper  ceremonies  on  behalf  of  the  dead.  We 
implore  that  he  may  be  admitted  to  joy  and  peace 
until  such  time  as  he  may  be  born  again  into  the 
world  of  men.  In  the  name  of  the  Buddhas,  we 
implore  you  to  save  his  soul. 

When  the  form  has  been  duly  filled  in  the 
suppliants  kneel  before  the  image  of  Ti-tsang 
and  set  sticks  of  lighted  incense  on  the  altar. 
The  paper  is  then  ceremonially  committed  to 
fire,  whereupon  the  written  prayer  passes  to  the 
region  of  spirit. 

Thus  we  find  that  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  superstitious  multitude,  who,  like  the  un 
lettered  adherents  of  every  religion,  know  little 
and  care  less  about  the  spiritual  meaning  under 
lying  the  formal  doctrines  of  their  faith,  Ti-tsang 


238  MONKS  AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

is   simply   a  god   of  the   dead,   who,    if  suitably 
petitioned,  will  procure  the  release  of  souls  from 
hell,  and  will  set  them  on  the  path  that  leads  to 
Amitabha's   heaven.     The   main    object   of    great 
numbers   of  pilgrims  to    Chiu  -  hua   is,  therefore, 
to  offer  prayers  to  Ti-tsang  that  he  will  manifest 
his   love   and   pity   towards    their   beloved    dead. 
It   will   be   observed  that   the   circumstances   are 
precisely   of    the    kind    that    give    priestcraft  its 
opportunity;    and   though   the   term    "monk"   is 
in   general    a    far    more    appropriate    description 
of  an  ordained  Buddhist  in  China  than  the  term 
"priest,"  we  need  not   be  surprised  to  find  that 
the  Buddhist  clergy  have  not  omitted  to  establish 
themselves    as     intermediaries    between    the    lay 
masses  and  the  divine  beings  whose  sympathy  is  to 
be  invoked  on  behalf  of  the  living  or  the  dead. 
Buddhist  monks  have  never  obtained  (except  in 
regions   where   Lamaism    prevails)   the    exclusive 
privileges   and    dangerous   prerogatives   of  priest 
hoods   elsewhere;    partly   because   Buddhism   has 
never  in  China   proper   succeeded  in  establishing 
itself  as  the  sole  religion  of  the  State,  and  partly 
because   it   has   kept   itself  free  to   a  remarkable 
degree   from    the    taint    of    political    or   worldly 
ambition.     This  religion  has  seldom,  if  ever,  tried 
to  coerce  men's  bodies  or  enslave  men's  minds ; 
and    if    it    has    often    derived    profit    from    the 
ignorance  and  credulity  of  the   masses,  we  may 
at    least    say    for    Buddhism    that    the    forms   of 
superstition  which  its  priests  have   countenanced 


x.]  THE   SHRINE   OF  TI-TSANG  239 

or  fostered  are  absolutely  unessential  to  the 
religion  itself.  It  may  be  suggested  that  it  is 
hardly  fair  for  Christianity,  which  in  our  own 
time  is  undergoing  a  somewhat  drastic  process 
of  readjustment  and  reinterpretation,  to  emphasize 
the  crudities  of  a  Buddhism  which  has  not  yet  been 
submitted  to  a  similar  modernizing  process.  The 
superstitions  which  are  associated  with  Buddhist 
beliefs  in  China  to-day  are  no  more  essential  to 
Buddhism  than  were  and  are  the  ecclesiastically- 
patronized  superstitions  of  Europe  to  the  teachings 
ascribed  to  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth. 

The  guardianship  of  the  holy  shrine  of  Ti- 
tsang  is  vested  in  the  abbot  of  the  Hua-ch'eng 
Monastery,  and  it  is  that  dignitary  who  examines 
the  credentials  of  pilgrim  -  monks  and  stamps 
their  papers  with  the  monastic  seal  in  attestation 
of  the  fact  that  the  object  of  their  pilgrimage 
has  been  attained.  The  shrine  was  burned  and 
pillaged  by  the  T'ai-p'ing  rebels,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  buildings  on  the  mountain  to  be  restored. 
The  work  was  completed  in  1867. 

According  to  the  local  belief,  the  entombed 
body  of  Ti-tsang  is  incorruptible.  The  name  of 
Ju  -  shen  -  tien,  which  is  given  to  the  building, 
implies  (if  we  may  judge  from  the  use  of  the 
term  elsewhere)  that  the  dead  man's  remains 
are  not  only  in  a  state  of  preservation,  but 
are  also  exposed  to  public  view  in  the  manner 
already  described  in  connection  with  the  abbot 
Lung-shan.  But  if  Chin  Ti-tsang's  body  was 


240  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

preserved  and  enshrined  like  that  of  Lung-shan, 
there  is  no  evidence  to  prove  it:  for  the  story 
that  his  body  was  found  undecayed  three  years 
after  death  is  only  one  of  a  very  large  class 
of  similar  legends,  based,  no  doubt,  on  each 
biographer's  pious  desire  to  offer  a  "proof 
from  incorruptibility "  that  his  hero  was  unmis 
takably  a  saint.1 

After  the  death  of  Ti-tsang  a  mysterious 
flame  was  seen  hovering  over  his  tomb.  That 
flame,  if  local  report  may  be  trusted,  is  still 
occasionally  visible  after  nightfall,  and  is  known 
as  the  shen  kuang,  or  "spiritual  glory."  It  can 
best  be  seen,  say  the  monks,  from  the  Tung  Yen 
("Eastern  Cliff") — a  long  temple-crowned  ridge 
towards  which  we  must  now  make  our  way. 

A  gradually  ascending  path  leads  us  past 
four  or  five  temples  before  it  brings  us  to  the 
end  of  the  ridge  at  a  distance  of  rather  less  than 
three  miles  from  the  shrine  of  Ti-tsang.  Here 
we  come  to  a  monastery  known  as  the  Pai-sui-an. 
Pai-sui  means  "  a  hundred  years  old,"  and  the 
name  commemorates  a  monk  named  Wu-hsia 
("  Spotless "),  who  wandered  to  Chiu-hua  from 
the  Mountain  of  Wu-t'ai  in  the  reign  of  Wan-li 
(1573-1619).  Selecting  the  edge  of  the  preci 
pitous  Eastern  Ridge  for  his  dwelling-place,  he 
made  himself  a  thatched  hut,  and  gave  himself 

1  This  does  not  mean  that  no  such  legend  has  any  basis  in  fact. 
The  bodies  of  hermits  who  lived  rigidly  ascetic  lives,  and  reduced 
themselves  to  a  state  of  extreme  emaciation,  may  resist  decay  for  a 
long  time,  even  without  preservative  treatment. 


EASTERN    RIDGE   AND   T'lEN-T'AI,    CHIU-HUA. 


THE   PAI-SUI    MONASTERY,   CHIU-HUA. 


[Facing  p.   24 < 


x.]        AUSTERITIES   OF   BUDDHIST   MONKS      241 

up  to  tranquil  meditation.  He  died  peacefully  at 
the  age  of  over  one  hundred,  crooning  hymns  to 
himself  as  he  was  dying ;  and  his  disciples  gave 
the  name  of  Pai-sui  to  the  monastery  which  they 
erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  man's  hut.  In  1879 
a  monk  named  "  Precious  Body "  1  travelled  to 
Peking  in  order  to  obtain  for  his  monastery  some 
token  of  imperial  recognition.  At  present  it  is 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  establishments  on 
the  mountain. 

Visitors    to    Chinese    monasteries    will    some 
times  hear  of  monks  who  have  taken  a  vow  of 
silence,  or  have  voluntarily  condemned  themselves 
to  solitary  confinement  in  a  cave  or  cell,  or  have 
adopted  some  form  of  self-torture — such  as  sitting 
in    a    spiked    cage.       Such    penances    are    often 
technically  known    as    tso    kuan,    which    literally 
means    "  to    sit    '  gated ' :   —  the    gating    process 
being   of  a   severer  type    than    is    customary    at 
English    universities.      The    motives    that    impel 
Chinese  monks  to  these  acts  of  austerity  are  no 
doubt     as    various     as     those     which     prompted 
Christian   hermits   to  similar  acts  in  the    Middle 
Ages.2     In    some    cases    the    main    object    is   to 
extract   alms  from    the   pious   laity   or  to   obtain 
donations   towards  the    restoration    of  a  temple ; 
in  others  the  motive  force  seems  to  be  nothing 
nobler  than  a  desire  for  notoriety.     But  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  sometimes  the  purpose 

1  Pao-shen. 

2  See  Lecky,  European  Morals,  chap,   iv.,  for  hideous  details  of 
the  practices  of  Christian  hermits. 

Q 


MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [OH. 

in  view  is  that  of  the  genuine  religious  ascetic 
— the  annihilation  of  carnal  desires  and  the 
attainment  of  self  -  purification  and  spiritual 
enlightenment. 

On  22nd  May  1908  a  monk  of  the  Pai-sui-an, 
named  "  Bright  Moonlight," l  entered  upon  three 
years  voluntary  incarceration.  A  few  months  of 
this  period  had  already  elapsed  when  I  paid  my 
first  visit  to  this  monastery  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year.  The  door  of  his  cell  was  sealed  with 
the  monastic  seal,  and  he  received  his  food 
through  a  hole  in  the  wall.  Judging  from  his 
appearance  (for  it  was  possible  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  him  through  the  hole)  he  was  well 
and  happy;  but  when  I  spoke  to  him  he  only 
touched  his  lips,  for  "  Bright  Moonlight "  was 
vowed  to  silence. 

The  Pai-sui-an  may  be  regarded  as  almost 
on  the  summit  of  Chiu-hua-shan  proper,  though 
the  peaks  of  T'ien-t'ai  stand  a  good  deal  higher.2 
The  views  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
monastery  are  very  striking.  On  the  western 
side  of  the  ridge  may  be  seen  the  winding  path 
by  which  we  ascended  the  mountain,  and  at  our 
feet  lies  the  large  group  of  temples  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ti  -  tsang's  shrine.  On  the 
eastern  side  of  the  ridge  we  have  a  deep,  wooded 
ravine,  and  beyond  it  the  steep  slope  which 

1  Lang-yueh. 

2  According  to  my  own  measurement  (by  b.p.  thermometer),  the 
height  of  the  Pai-sui-an  is  2,350  feet  above  sea-level ;  but  I  cannot 
guarantee  the  accuracy  of  this.     The   height  of  T1eii-tfai  is  about 
3,000  feet. 


x.]  THE   TOWER   OF   HEAVEN  243 

culminates  in  the  line  of  fantastic  peaks  of  which 
T'ien-t'ai  is  one  —  the  peaks  which  kindled  the 
imagination  of  the  poet  Li  Po  as  he  lay  in 
his  boat  on  the  Yangtse  nearly  twelve  hundred 
years  ago. 

Ti-tsang's  shrine  is,  indeed,  the  holiest  spot 
on  the  mountain,  but  no  Western  visitor  will 
disagree  with  the  Chinese  literary  pilgrim  who 
declared  that  to  shirk  the  ascent  to  the  "Tower 
of  Heaven  "  (T'ien-t'ai)  is  to  remain  half  ignorant 
of  Chiu-hua.  The  climb  is  a  steep  one.  Starting 
from  the  Pai-sui-an,  it  is  necessary  first  to 
descend  the  Eastern  Ridge  on  the  side  remote 
from  the  Hua-ch'eng  Monastery  to  a  distance  of 
several  hundred  feet.  This  brings  us  to  a  narrow 
glen,  shaded  with  trees  and  bamboos,  through 
which  flows  a  bright  mountain  stream.  On 
crossing  the  stream  the  ascent  begins  abruptly, 
leading  us  past  the  Temple  of  "  Tinted  Clouds  " l 
and  several  other  buildings,  and  finally  bringing 
us  to  the  hermitage  of  "  Ten  Thousand  Buddhas," 2 
which  is  situated  on  the  Kuan-yin  Peak 3  of  the 
summit  of  T'ien-t'ai-shan.  Here  we  find  our 
selves  on  a  lofty  ridge  commanding  a  magni 
ficent  view  in  almost  every  direction. 

At  T'ien-t'ai,  as  at  the  Hua-ch'eng  Monastery, 
pilgrims  may  have  their  certificates  stamped 
with  an  authenticating  seal.  Protective  charms 
against  devils  and  other  noxious  things  may 
also  be  obtained  here,  and  are  highly  prized 
by  the  humbler  classes  of  pilgrims. 

1  Hua-yiin-an.  2  Wan-Fo-ssu.          3  Kuan-yin-feng. 


244  MONKS    AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

The  T'ien-t'ai  buildings  are  small  and  of 
no  great  antiquity.  The  most  important  of 
them  was  founded  in  1368,  and  after  its  destruc 
tion  by  the  rebels  was  restored  in  1890.  The 
restoration  of  the  smaller  temples  was  carried 
out  chiefly  by  certain  enthusiastic  monks,  of 
whom  one  was  named  P'u-ch'ing  ("  Universal 
Purity ")  and  another  Sung  -  ch'iian  ("  Pines 
and  Fountains  "). 

The  famous  names  associated  with  Chiu- 
hua  are  not  only  those  of  monks  and  hermits. 
The  poet  Li  Po,  as  we  have  seen,  loved  to 
ramble  over  its  romantic  slopes,  and  even  leaders 
of  armies  and  busy  politicians  have  sought 
care  -  free  seclusion  in  its  spirit  -  haunted  glades. 
The  most  distinguished  of  these  lovers  of  Chiu- 
hua  was  Wang  Shou-jen  (1472-1528) — a  great 
soldier,  statesman,  and  man  of  letters  of  the 
Ming  dynasty.  He  saw  much  active  service 
against  rebels  and  barbarian  tribesmen,  and 
achieved  high  rank  and  distinction.  On  more 
than  one  occasion,  however,  the  machinations  of 
his  enemies  put  him  under  an  official  cloud, 
and  at  such  periods  he  would  seek  a  congenial 
resting-place  on  Chiu-hua.  At  that  time  the 
mountain  was  a  favourite  resort  of  many  noted 
scholars,  but  Wang  Shou-jen  seems  to  have 
found  pleasure  chiefly  in  the  society  of  the 
mountain-hermits.  One  of  these  was  an  un 
kempt  person  who  was  known  to  his  limited 
circle  of  friends  by  the  name  of  "  Shock-headed 


PROTECTIVE   CHARMS    FROM   T'lEN  -  T'AI,    CHIU  -  HUA  -  SHAN. 

[Facing  p.  244. 


x.]         STRANGE   HERMITS   OF  CHIU-HUA        245 

Ts'ai "  or  "  Ts'ai  of  the  Tangled  Hair  "  ; 1  another, 
who  was  nameless,  was  usually  referred  to  as  the 
"  Queer  -  fellow  -  who  -  lived  -  in  -  Ti  -  tsang's-  cave  -  and- 
ate  -  raw  -  vegetables."  Wang's  interest  in  him 
was  aroused  by  the  report  that  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  lying  on  a  bed  of  pine  -  needles  and 
used  no  fire  for  cooking  purposes ;  wherefore 
in  1501  Wang  paid  him  a  visit.  He  had  to 
scale  a  precipice  to  find  him,  and  when  he 
reached  the  "  Queer-fellow's "  den  he  found  him 
fast  asleep.  Wang  sat  down  beside  him  and,  so 
says  our  chronicler  gravely,  tickled  his  toes  till  he 
woke  up.  When  he  espied  Wang,  all  he  said  was  : 
"  How  on  earth  did  you  get  here  ?  The  path  is 
very  dangerous  !  "  But  the  two  were  soon  on  the 
best  of  terms  with  one  another,  and  there,  at  the 
edge  of  a  cliff,  they  proceeded  to  talk  philosophy. 
And  below  them  rolled  the  mountain  mists. 

Wang  was  a  practical  man  of  the  world,  and 
also  a  sincere  Confucian,  but  there  was  a 
mystical  side  to  his  nature  which  caused  him 
to  take  a  rather  unorthodox  interest  in  the 
doings  of  Taoist  adepts  and  mountain  wizards. 
He  himself  studied  the  occult  wisdom  of  the 
Taoists  for  a  time,  and  devoted  special  atten 
tion  to  the  art  of  regulating  the  breath.2  So 

1  Tsfai  Pfeng-tfou. 

2  Chuang-tzii,  the  brilliant  Taoist  mystic  of  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries  B.C.,  said  that   the   purified   man    draws   his   hreath   from 
the    uttermost    depths,    ordinary    people    only    from    their    throats. 
The  value  of  deep  and   regular    breathing   is    of  course   taught   by 
many  systems  of  mysticism  besides  Taoism  and  Tantric  Buddhism.     For 


246  MONKS   AND  MONASTERIES  [OH. 

successful  was  he  in  the  cultivation  of  his 
psychic  powers  that  he  developed  the  faculty  of 
foretelling  the  future ;  and  he  startled  people, 
so  we  are  told,  by  the  remarkable  accuracy 
of  his  prophecies.  It  was  commonly  supposed 
that  he  had  reached  Tao — the  central  truth  of 
Taoist  mysticism ; 1  but  Wang  himself  gradually 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  the  futility  of  a  great 
deal  of  Taoist  magic,  and  concluded  his  studies 
in  that  direction  with  the  exclamation,  "  This 
frittering  away  of  one's  energies  is  not  the  Tao 
for  me."  So  he  reverted  to  Confucian  orthodoxy, 
which  warns  men  to  venerate  the  spirits  but 
to  keep  them  at  a  respectful  distance.2 

In  1519  Wang  Shou-jen  was  sent  to  cope 
with  a  rebellious  prince  named  Ch'en  Hao, 
and  succeeded  in  crushing  the  rising  after  a 
campaign  of  only  thirty  -  five  days.  Wang's 

Buddhist  literature  on  breath -regulation  (prdnd-ydma),  see,  e.g.,  B.N. 
543  (17),  Har.  xii.  vol.  i.  pp.  29-34.  See  also  Oldenberg,  Buddha, 
p.  306  ;  Spence  Hardy,,  Eastern  Monachism,  pp.  267^.  ;  S.B.E.,  xxxv. 
130-1  ;  Poussin,  Bouddhisme,  p.  395. 

1  What   Tao   really  is  only   the    successful  mystic   can  say — or, 
rather,  he  knows,  but  will  not  speak.     The  Tao  that  can  be  discussed 
and  denned  is  not  the  real  Tao — so  we  learn  from  the  Tao-tc-ching , 
referred  to  on  p.  139. 

2  Among  the  works  of  Wang  Shou-jen  is  to  be  found  an  interest 
ing    anti-Buddhist    essay    written    (about    1515)    in    the    form    of   a 
' '  Remonstrance "  addressed  to  the  Emperor  Cheng  Te  of  the  Ming 
dynasty,  but  apparently  never  actually  presented  (see  ninth  chiian  of 
his  collected  works,  pp.  13  ff.).     It  challenges  comparison,  of  course, 
with  the  more  famous  memorial  addressed  by  Han  Yii  to  the  Emperor 
Hsien  Tsung  of  the  Tfang  dynasty  in  the  year  819.     Its  arguments  are 
to  a  great  extent  similar  to  those  of  Chou  Pin  (see  above,  pp.  224-9J,  who 
probably  had  the  essays  of  both  Han  Yii  and  Wang  Shou-jen  in  his 
mind  when  he  penned  his  own  little  essay. 


x.]  WANG   SHOU-JEN  247 

brilliant  successes  in  war  and  at  Court  made 
him  an  object  of  jealousy,  and  some  of  his 
enemies  reported  to  the  throne  that  he  was 
plotting  to  bring  about  a  revolution.  This 
resulted  in  his  temporary  disgrace,  and  he  again 
retired  to  his  favourite  haunts  on  Chiu-hua, 
where  he  lived  care -free  in  a  rustic  cottage. 
The  emperor  sent  secret  emissaries  to  spy 
upon  him,  and  from  their  reports  satisfied 
himself  that  the  accusations  were  totally  ground 
less.  "  The  man  is  a  philosopher ! "  exclaimed 
the  emperor.  "  It  is  not  of  stuff  like  this 
that  rebels  are  made."  So  Wang  was  reinstated 
in  his  offices,  and  his  loyalty  and  splendid 
abilities  brought  him  many  new  honours,  in 
cluding  the  rank  of  a  noble.  He  is  known 
to  fame  not  only  as  a  gallant  soldier  and  wise 
statesman,  but  also  as  a  scholar,  poet,  and 
essayist.  He  achieved,  moreover,  the  glory  of 
"  canonization  " 1 — that  is  to  say,  his  name  was 
enrolled  among  those  of  China's  honoured  dead 
to  whose  memory  shrines  are  erected  and  before 
whose  "  spirit  -  tablets  "  religious  or  commemora 
tive  rites  are  officially  performed.  In  1584  his 
tablet  was  elevated  to  the  Confucian  temple, 
which  means  that  he  had  come  to  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  holy  men  or  saints  of  the 
Confucian  system.  A  shrine  or  chapel  was 
erected  in  his  honour  near  the  Hua  -  ch'eng 
Monastery  on  Chiu-hua,  and  the  magistrate  of  the 

1  Under  the  name  of  Wen-ch'tng. 


248  MONKS   AND  MONASTERIES  [CH. 

district  was  made  responsible  (in  accordance  with 
the  usual  practice)  for  seeing  that  the  commemora 
tive  ceremonies  were  duly  carried  out  in  spring 
and  autumn.1  Hero-worship  of  this  kind  is 
an  aspect  of  Chinese  religious  life  which  has 
been  very  little  studied  by  Western  writers  on 
China;  yet  the  subject  is  one  of  exceptional 
interest  and  importance,  and  deserves  far  more 
attention  than  it  has  received. 

It  is  not  only  for  historical  or  academic 
reasons  that  the  career  and  personality  of  Wang 
Shou-jen  are  worthy  of  our  attention.  He  is 
one  of  the  few  Chinese  writers  of  his  age  whose 
works  are  read  with  avidity  in  both  China  and 
Japan  to-day.  He  is  studied  and  admired  even 
by  those  young  Chinese  republicans  who,  in 
their  eagerness  to  equip  themselves  and  their 
country  with  all  the  learning  and  science  of  the 
West,  are  only  too  apt,  as  a  rule,  to  turn  their 
backs  on  the  wisdom  of  their  own  sages.  The 
writings  of  Wang  Shou-jen  are  approved  of  by 
young  China,  not  because  they  are  revolutionary 
in  tone — for  indeed  they  are  far  from  that — but 
because  they  reveal  the  character  and  embody 
the  ideals  of  a  strong  man  of  action,  a  single- 
minded  patriot,  a  courageous  and  skilful  leader 
in  war,  an  incorruptible  statesman.  It  is  through 
lack  of  such  men  as  this  that  China  has  been 

1  In  view  of  the  distance  of  the  mountain  from  the  district  city 
(Chfing-yang),,  it  was  arranged  that  the  ceremonies  should  be  per 
formed  at  temporary  shrines  erected  for  the  purpose  twice  yearly 
within  the  walls  of  the  city. 


x.]  MOUNTAIN  LOVERS  249 

brought  in  recent  years  to  parlous  straits ;  it  is 
such  men  as  this  who  must  be  forthcoming  in 
the  near  future  if  the  country  is  to  be  saved.  It 
is  a  sign  of  good  omen  that  Wang  Shou-jen's 
writings  make  their  strongest  appeal  to  the  eager 
young  patriots  in  whose  hands  will  lie  the  making 
or  marring  of  the  new  China.  But  they  will 
do  wrong  if  they  imitate  and  applaud  only  the 
practical  and  utilitarian  side  of  his  teachings  and 
fail  to  understand  and  appreciate  what  we  may 
call  their  spiritual  side.  Let  them  not  ignore 
the  significance  of  the  fact  that  Wang  Shou-jen, 
whose  words  sound  like  fife  and  clarion  in  the 
ears  of  the  active  reformers  and  patriots  of  to-day, 
drew  much  of  his  moral  energy  from  his  solitary 
reveries  under  the  starlit  skies ;  that  he  was  not 
only  a  leader  of  men  on  the  field  of  battle,  but 
also  the  dreamer  of  dreams  on  the  silent  hills. 
Chinese  patriots  hope  and  believe  that  their 
country  is  about  to  step  into  a  splendid  material 
heritage  which  will  enable  her  to  occupy  one  of 
the  loftiest  places  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ; 
it  will  be  a  bitter  misfortune  for  China  and  the 
world  if  they  allow  the  spiritual  heritage  of  their 
race  to  be  cast  aside  as  a  thing  of  no  account. 

We  must  content  ourselves  with  the  briefest 
glances  at  a  few  of  the  other  well-known  mountain 
lovers  whose  names  are  associated  with  the  history 
of  Chiu-hua. 

Of  a  Cantonese  scholar  named  Chan  Jo-shui, 
who  lived  in  the  fifteenth  century,  we  are  told 


250  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

that  he  earned  for  himself  the  sobriquet  of 
Professor  Kan  -  ch'iian  because  he  loved  the 
beautiful  scenery  of  Chiu-hua  and  carved  on  a 
rock  the  two  characters  kan-ch'ua?i,  which  mean 
"  sweet  waters."  He  had  many  devoted  pupils, 
and  one  of  the  students'  reading-rooms  on  the 
mountain  was  founded  in  his  memory  and 
endowed  with  a  little  estate  of  land.  One  of  his 
disciples  was  Lii  Chung-mu,  who  himself  became 
an  admired  teacher  of  ethics,  and  emphasized 
sincerity,  loyalty,  and  filial  piety  as  the  founda 
tion  of  all  sound  morals.  He  too  was  a  lover 
of  our  mountain.  "  Of  all  the  hills  of  the  Chiang- 
nan  provinces,"  he  said,  "  none  is  more  beautiful 
than  Chiu-hua." 

Fei  Kuan-ch'ing  belonged  to  a  much  earlier 
date  than  Professor  "  Sweet-waters,"  for  he  lived  in 
the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century  of  our  era. 
He  was  noted  for  his  filial  affection,  and  (in 
accordance  with  several  classic  precedents)  he 
built  himself  a  hut  beside  his  mother's  grave. 
When  an  official  post  was  offered  him  he  said 
with  a  sigh :  "A  Government  appointment  is 
useful  when  it  enables  one  to  support  one's 
parents  in  comfort.  My  parents,  alas,  are  no 
more ;  of  what  use  would  a  Government  appoint 
ment  be  to  me  ? "  So  he  declined  the  offer,  and 
finally  decided  to  make  a  solitary  home  for  him 
self  under  the  shadow  of  the  peaks  of  Chiu-hua. 

Wang  Tsung-su  (ninth  century)  also  belonged 
to  the  T'ang  dynasty.  He  always  showed  a  keen 


x.]  POETS   OF   CHIU-HUA  251 

distaste,  we  are  told,  for  the  pursuits  that  bring 
fame  and  wealth,  and  though  circumstances  com 
pelled  him  to  enter  the  official  arena  for  a  time, 
his  happiest  days  were  spent  on  Chiu  -  hua  as 
a  roaming  student.  There  one  day  he  met  a 
strange  man  who  handed  him  certain  charms 
which  enabled  him  to  perform  various  Taoist 
miracles,  such  as  levitating  the  body.  Popular 
fancy  credited  him  with  a  controlling  power 
over  the  dragons  that  regulate  the  rainfall  — 
a  power  which  he  seems  to  have  exercised 
beneficently.  His  hermitage  was  afterwards 
known  as  the  Wu-hsiang  Monastery. 

Next  to  Li  Po,  the  greatest  of  the  T'ang 
poets  who  celebrated  Chiu-hua  in  their  verse 
was  perhaps  Liu  Yii-hsi  (772  -  842).  In  an 
introduction  to  his  little  song  he  observes  that 
only  the  great  distance  of  Chiu-hua  from  the 
capital  has  prevented  it  from  being  properly 
appreciated,  wherefore  he  has  written  a  poem 
about  it  so  that  it  may  receive  its  due  meed 
of  praise  at  last. 

Of  the  Sung  dynasty  names,  one  of  the  fore 
most  is  that  of  Chou  Pi-ta,  who  was  a  great 
scholar  and  successful  statesman  as  well  as  a 
poet  and  prose-writer.  He,  like  Wang  Shou-jen, 
was  ennobled  and  canonized.  An  essay  of  his 
is  preserved  in  which  he  gives  a  gossiping  account 
of  his  visit  to  the  mountain  in  1167  and  describes 
a  meeting  with  an  ancient  monk  of  the  "  Twin- 
peak  "  Monastery  (Shuang-feng-ssu)  who  was 


252  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [CH. 

eighty- six   years  of  age,  and   had   not  descended 
from  his  eyrie  for  twenty  years. 

Sun  Mien  (Sung  period)  was  one  of  the 
numberless  men  of  official  rank  in  China  who 
have  found  the  "  call  of  the  wild "  and  the  joys 
of  literary  seclusion  more  seductive  than  the 
sweets  of  office — even  though  in  Sun's  case  the 
office  in  question  was  the  prefecture  of  Su-chou 
(Soochow),  a  gay  and  brilliant  city  which  for 
centuries  shared  with  Hangchow  the  reputation 
of  being  a  "  heaven  upon  earth."  After  his  with 
drawal  to  Chiu  -  hua  the  Court  tried  its  best 
to  induce  him  to  return  to  official  life,  but 
unsuccessfully. 

Tales  of  enchantment  and  wizardry  are  told 
of  Chiu-hua  as  of  all  other  famous  hills  in  China. 
A  typical  story  is  that  of  a  peasant  named  Ning 
Ch'eng,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who  one  day 
on  the  slopes  of  Chiu-hua  encountered  a  queer 
old  man  who  handed  him  half  a  peach.  It 
should  be  observed  that  in  China  the  peach  is 
regarded  as  a  fairy  fruit.  Numerous  strange 
tales,  including  legends  of  the  Rip  Van  Winkle 
type,  turn  on  the  eating  of  a  magic  peach,  and 
even  on  the  wonderful  properties  inherent  in  the 
peach  blossom.  Ning  Ch'eng  ate  the  half-peach, 
and  then  the  old  man  led  him  to  a  cliff  and 
tapped  it.  The  rock  opened,  and  Ning  followed 
his  guide  into  a  strange  dwelling-place,  such  as 
mortal  man  never  saw  before.  There  he  lived 
an  enchanted  life ;  but  after  some  time  he 


x.]  A   WIZARD  OF  CHIU-HUA  255 

remembered  his  old  mother,  and  asked  the  wizard 
to  let  him  visit  her.  During  the  journey  he 
was  told  to  shut  his  eyes,  so  he  could  see 
nothing  of  the  devious  path  through  which  the 
wizard  was  leading  him,  though  he  heard  the 
rushing  of  tumultuous  waters.  Ning's  house 
was  soon  reached,  but  before  he  was  allowed 
to  enter  it  the  wizard  thumped  his  back,  and 
lo !  out  of  Ning's  mouth  came  forth  the  half- 
peach.1  The  wizard  told  Ning  that  they  would 
meet  again  on  a  date  which  he  named,  and 
then  disappeared,  leaving  Ning  to  rejoin  his 
family  and  resume  the  humdrum  life  of  a  simple 
peasant.  After  his  mother's  death  some  one  saw 
him  wander  off  in  the  direction  of  the  cliff  which 
had  formerly  opened  at  the  wizard's  touch,  and 
from  that  day  Ning  was  seen  on  earth  no 
more.  His  disappearance  took  place  in  the 
twenty  -  fourth  year  of  Wan-li  (1596)  in  the 
month  and  on  the  day  foretold  by  the  wizard. 

The  Chinese,  like  the  people  of  many  other 
lands,  are  laudatores  temporis  acti — they  draw 
their  best  examples  of  nobility,  heroism,  self- 
control,  spiritual  insight,  religious  achievement, 
from  the  well  -  stocked  treasure  -  house  of  the 
"good  old  days."  There  is  a  Chinese  saying 
which  aptly  satirizes  the  tendency  to  glorify 
the  past  at  the  expense  of  the  present:  "  The 
mountains  of  our  own  times  are  not  so  lofty  as 

1  The  meaning  is,  of  course,  that  his  connection  with  fairyland  was 
now  severed. 


254,  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [OH. 

the  mountains  of  the  days  of  old."1  Yet  if  we 
must  look  to  the  chronicles  of  the  Han  dynasty 
or  the  legends  of  a  yet  earlier  date  for  accounts 
of  the  doings  of  the  mightiest  of  the  Taoist 
wizards,  we  may  sometimes  find,  in  the  com 
paratively  prosaic  annals  of  the  dynasty  that 
has  just  expired,  stories  of  mystery  and  magic 
which  would  not  disgrace  even  the  golden  age 
of  wizardry  and  enchantment.  Teng  Yii,  for 
example,  of  whom  some  remarkable  feats  are 
recorded,  lived  as  recently  as  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  AVe  are  told  of  him  that  he 
began  life  as  a  woodcutter,  and  that  one  day 
while  pursuing  his  occupation  on  Chiu-hua  he 
met  a  mysterious  stranger  who  handed  him  a 
treatise  on  magical  arts  which  enabled  him  to 
create  storms,  to  cause  rainfalls,  to  cure  human 
ailments,  and  to  extirpate  the  evils  caused  by 
witchcraft.  All  these  things  he  would  do 
without  payment  of  any  kind.  In  the  sixth 
month  of  the  year  corresponding  to  1844  there 
was  a  great  drought  in  Ch'ih  -  chou  -  fu  (the 
prefecture  in  which  Chiu-hua  is  situated),  which 
resulted  in  the  drying  of  the  wells  and  the 
withering  of  the  crops.  The  prefect,  knowing  of 
Teng  Yii's  skill  in  dealing  with  calamities  of 
this  kind,  invited  him  to  exert  his  magic  powers 
on  behalf  of  the  suffering  people.  He  obeyed 
the  summons,  and  erected  an  altar,  at  which  he 
offered  up  prayers  for  rain.  He  had  no  sooner 

1  Chin  shan  pu  chi  ku  shun  kao. 


x.]  THE   RAIN   MAKER   OF  CHIU-HUA         255 

stretched  forth  his  hand  and  uttered  the  thunder- 
spell  than  there  was  a  sound  of  rumbling  in 
the  heavens.  This  was  quickly  followed  by  the 
gathering  of  clouds  and  the  downfall  of  rain. 
Then  he  turned  towards  the  east  and  blew 
softly,  whereupon  dark  masses  of  cloud  began 
to  move  in  that  direction.  The  prefect  asked 
his  reason  for  sending  rain-clouds  to  the  east, 
and  Teng  Yii  explained  that  there  was  a  drought 
in  the  east  also,  and  that  he  was  sending  some 
rain  thither  in  order  to  solace  the  anxious  hearts 
of  the  people  of  the  thirsting  district  of  Ch'ing- 
yang.  Subsequently  word  was  brought  from 
Ch'ing-yang  that  dark  clouds  had  approached 
from  the  west,  and  resulted  in  a  much-needed 
fall  of  rain  just  at  the  time  when  Teng  Yii 
was  uttering  his  incantations.  After  the  happy 
conclusion  of  the  rain  -  making  ceremony  the 
prefect  wished  to  send  Teng  Yii  home  in  luxury, 
and  offered  him  a  carriage-and-four ;  but  when 
the  carriage  arrived  it  was  found  that  he  had 
already  floated  away  by  himself.  This  benevolent 
wizard  passed  a  peaceful  existence  on  Chiu-hua, 
and  no  one  knows  what  became  of  him  at  last. 

Perhaps  of  all  the  wise  men  of  Chiu-hua 
few  can  have  had  a  more  interesting  personality 
than  the  nameless  hermit  of  the  Eastern  Cliff, 
who  became  an  expert  in  the  manipulation  of 
clouds.  Besides  acquiring  the  art  of  discrimin 
ating  between  the  various  kinds  and  tints  of 
clouds,  he  was  also  in  the  habit  of  collecting 


256  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [OH. 

specimens.  He  used  to  be  seen  running  up 
and  down  the  misty  slopes  of  Chiu-hua  chasing 
clouds  as  if  they  were  butterflies.  His  practice 
was  to  catch  them  in  a  crockery  jar,  which  he 
held  upside-down  over  the  cloud  he  was  pursuing. 
When  his  jar  was  full  he  would  take  a  piece 
of  dry  parchment  and  fasten  it  down  over  the 
neck  of  the  jar ;  and  if  friends  came  to  see  him, 
he  would  take  a  needle  and  prick  a  hole  in  the 
parchment,  whereupon  the  captive  cloud  would 
come  curling  out,  so  that  in  a  brief  space  of 
time  it  would  fill  the  room.  Apparently  he 
would  even  go  so  far  as  to  feed  his  guests  on 
clouds,  though  whether  the  dainty  fare  satisfied 
their  hunger  or  not  is  an  unanswered  question. 
The  great  poet  Su  Tung-p'o  (1036-1101)  in  a 
sportive  hour  composed  some  lines  on  the 
subject  of  the  cloud  gatherer.  "  Of  late,"  sang 
the  genial  poet,  "there  is  one  who  has  learned 
the  art  of  cloud- catching ;  and  he  is  going  to 
give  me  a  bag  of  clouds  as  a  parting  present." 

The  southern  slope  of  Chiu-hua — that  is,  the 
side  remote  from  the  Yangtse — is  often  neglected 
by  pilgrims  from  the  north ;  but  the  beauty  of 
its  woods  and  waters  makes  this  side  of  the 
mountain  no  less  attractive  than  the  northern, 
and  it  should  not  be  left  unvisited.  The  temples 
are  small  and  of  no  special  interest,  but  they  are 
all  situated  amidst  charming  scenery.  Starting 
from  the  Pai-sui  Monastery,  and  retracing  the 
path  that  leads  from  Ti  -  tsang's  shrine  for  a 


x.]  SOUTHERN  SLOPE   OF  CHIU-HUA          257 

distance  of  about  a  mile,  we  come  to  a  parting 
of  the  ways.  Following  the  new  path  in  a 
southerly  direction,  we  soon  reach  the  Fa-yiin 
Temple,  whence  the  road  descends  to  the  "  Third 
Gate  of  Heaven " l  and  to  the  "  Diamond 
Hermitage,"2  behind  which  is  a  small  cave- 
temple.3  Lower  still  is  the  "Holy  Buddha" 
Monastery,4  the  Yung  -  sheng  Monastery,  the 
"Second  Gate  of  Heaven"5  and  the  "First 
Gate  of  Heaven." 6  Here  we  reach  the  foot  of 
the  mountain.  The  last  of  the  temples,  situated 
by  the  side  of  a  stream  spanned  by  a  picturesque 
bridge,  is  a  supernumerary  "  Gate  of  Heaven  ; " 7 
and  thence  the  road  winds  through  a  beautiful 
gorge  to  a  small  cultivated  plain  and  to  the 
village  of  Nan-a-wan.  A  short  walk  thence 
brings  us  to  the  village  of  Pao-chia,  close  to 
which  stands  a  white  five-storied  pagoda — the 
Pao-chia-tca,  or  "  Pagoda  of  the  Pao  Family." 

We  have  now  come  to  the  end  of  our 
exploration  of  Chiu-hua-shan ;  and  it  remains 
for  us  either  to  return  to  the  Yangtse  (which 
we  can  do  by  following  a  somewhat  circuitous 
route  that  skirts  the  base  of  the  mountain)  or 
to  proceed  through  Southern  Anhui  to  the  city 
of  Hui-chou.  This  town  stands  at  the  head  of 
a  navigable  tributary  of  the  Ch'ien-t'ang  River — 

1  San  T'ien-men.         2  Chin-kang  ch'an-lin. 

3  Chuan-shen-tung.     4  Pao-Fo-ssu.         6  Ku  Erh  Tfien-men. 

e  Ku  I  Tfien-men.      7  Ku  Tfou  T'ien-men. 

R 


258  MONKS   AND   MONASTERIES  [CH.  x. 

the  stream  that  flows  into  Hangchow  Bay  ;  and 
the  four  days'  journey  from  the  Pai-sui  Monastery 
to  Hui-chou  will  take  the  traveller  through  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  tracts  of  country  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
lower  Yangtse.  The  villages  are  poor,  for  the 
country  has  not  yet  recovered  from  the  ruin 
caused  by  the  T'ai-p'ing  rebels.  Almost  the 
only  indication  of  the  former  prosperity  of  the 
province  consists  in  the  admirable  stone  bridges 
which  cross  the  numerous  water  -  courses.  The 
finest  of  these  is  the  sixteen  -  arch  bridge  at 
Hui-chou.  The  total  distance  from  Chiu-hua 
to  Hui-chou  is  about  eighty-three  miles.  Hui- 
chou  is  a  prefectural  city,  and  before  the  T'ai-p'ing 
rebellion  it  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  in  this 
part  of  China ;  but  it  is  now  of  small  dimensions, 
and  its  wall  is  dilapidated.  A  neighbouring  city, 
Hsiu-ning,  is  the  seat  of  the  manufacture  of 
the  best  Chinese  inks,  and  Hui-chou  is  the 
principal  mart  for  their  sale. 

The  water  journey  from  Hui  -  chou  to 
Hangchow  can  be  accomplished  comfortably  in 
native  boats.  The  rivers  —  first  the  Hsin  -  an 
and  subsequently  the  Ch'ien-t'ang — wind  through 
a  wooded  fairyland  throughout  the  whole  length 
of  a  journey  which  on  an  average  occupies  about 
seven  days.  The  time  varies  according  to  the 
state  of  the  water,  but  few  travellers  are  likely  to 
grudge  the  days  spent  in  restful  contemplation  of 
the  entrancing  river  scenery  of  Western  Chehkiang. 


HUI-CHOU   CITY  AND   BRIDGE. 


ON  THE  CH'IEN-T'ANG   RIVER,    CHEHKIANG. 


[Facing  /.  258. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PUTO-SHAN   AND    KUAN-YIN    PUSA 

OF  the  four  sacred  hills  of  Buddhist  China,  the 
one  which  has  the  shortest  religious  history,  yet 
enjoys  the  greatest  prosperity  to-day,  is  Puto-shan. 
Puto  is,  strictly  speaking,  not  a  mountain,  but  an 
island.1  It  is  one  of  the  group  known  to  Europeans 
as  the  Chusans,  which  lie  off  the  north-eastern  coast 
of  Chehkiang,  and  it  is  therefore  within  easy  reach 
of  both  Shanghai  and  Ningpo.  Puto  lies  about  two 
miles  to  the  east  of  the  large  island  which  gives  its 
name  to  the  archipelago.  The  name  of  Chusan  is 
not  strange  to  the  annals  of  English  history,  for 
during  the  wars  of  the  nineteenth  century  it  was 
twice  occupied  by  British  troops. 

Puto  is  an  irregularly -shaped  island  of  nearly 
four  miles  in  length,  varying  in  breadth  from  a  few 
hundred  yards  to  about  three  miles.  It  is  very 
hilly,  and  rises  at  its  highest  point  ("  Buddha's 
Peak")  to  nearly  one  thousand  feet.  The  coast 
line  is  deeply  indented,  and  diversified  with  rocks, 
coves,  and  sandy  beaches.  On  the  western  and 

1  The  Chinese  word  shan  (ee  mountain  ")  is  often  used  to  denote  a 
small,  hilly  island.  With  regard  to  the  word  Puto,  which  is  perhaps 
better  known  to  Europeans  as  Pootoo,  see  p.  67.,  footnote. 

259 


PUTO-SHAN  AND  KUAN- YIN  PUSA          [CH. 

south-western  sides  the  water  is  shallow,  and  the 
receding  tide  uncovers  a  border  of  dark  mud ;  but 
on  the  eastern  side,  which  is  by  far  the  more 
attractive,  the  rocky  headlands  slope  into  deep 
water,  and  the  bays  which  lie  between  their  pro 
tecting  arms  are  fringed  with  firm  yellow  sand.  A 
little  pier  has  been  built  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  island,  and  this  is  the  landing-place  of  the 
crowds  of  visitors  who  in  the  pilgrim-seasons  of 
spring  and  summer  come  in  their  thousands  to 
kneel  in  adoration  before  the  shrines  of  the  holy 
pusa  Kuan-yin. 

The  position  of  Puto  near  the  estuaries  of  two 
great  rivers — the  Yangtse  and  the  Ch'ien-t'ang — is 
responsible  for  the  dun  colour  of  the  seas  that  lap 
the  coasts  of  the  sacred  isle.  In  other  respects 
Puto  fully  deserves  all  the  praises  that  have  been 
lavished  upon  it  by  enthusiastic  Chinese  Buddhists. 
It  is  an  island  of  singular  charm  and  beauty — an 
island  which,  if  we  may  transfer  to  Puto  the  words 
of  an  English  poet,  is  in  very  truth  "a  small, 
sweet  world  of  wave-encompassed  wonder." 

Puto  is  so  easily  accessible,  and  has  been  so 
often  visited  by  Europeans,  that  there  is  no  lack 
of  literature  relating  to  the  island  in  English  and 
other  European  languages.1  Some  of  the  earlier 

1  By  far  the  best  account  of  Puto  in  any  European  language  is  a 
recently  published  German  work  by  Ernst  Boerschmann,  Die  Baukunst 
und  Religiose  Kultur  der  Chinenen  Band  i.  :  P'u-t'o-shan  (Berlin,  1911). 
Unfortunately,  it  appears  that  Mr  Boerschmann  had  no  opportunity  of 
consulting  the  principal  Chinese  authority  for  the  history  of  the  island 
— the  P'u-t'o-shan-chih  The  only  Chinese  authority  which  he  quotes 


XL]  GUTZLAFF   AT   PUTO-SHAN  261 

missionary  writers  made  appreciative  references  to 
the  natural  beauty  of  the  island,  but  their  observa 
tions  concerning  its  religious  associations  were  apt 
to  be  much  marred  by  that  almost  fanatical  in 
tolerance  of  alien  faiths  which  in  past  years  has 
been — and  still  is,  to  a  limited  and  diminishing 
extent — so  ugly  a  feature  of  Christian  missionary 
enterprise. 

One  such  visitor  was  Charles  Gutzlaff,  who 
landed  at  Puto  in  February  1833.  He  describes  "a 
temple  built  on  a  projecting  rock,  beneath  which  the 
foaming  sea  dashed,"  and  which  "gave  us  the  idea 
of  the  genius  of  its  inhabitants,  in  thus  selecting 
the  most  attractive  spot  to  celebrate  the  orgies  of 
idolatry."  He  observes  that  "  to  every  person  who 
visits  this  island  it  appears  at  first  like  a  fairyland, 
so  romantic  is  everything  which  meets  the  eye  " ; 
but  the  images  of  Kuan-yin  "  and  other  deformed 
idols  "  give  him  much  distress,  and  Puto,  for  all  its 
beauty,  turns  out  to  be  nothing  better  than  an 
"infamous  seat  of  abomination."1 

is  the  great  encyclopaedia,  the  T'u-shu-chi-ch'eng,  which  gives  extracts 
from  the  Cfiih,  but  takes  them  from  a  now  superseded  edition.  His  book 
is  nevertheless  of  high  value  owing  to  its  careful  and  thorough  study  of 
the  epigraphic  and  architectural  features  of  Puto. 

1  See  Gutzlaff's  Journal  of  Three  Voyages,  1834,  pp.  438  /.,  and 
China  Opened  (i.  116).  The  descriptions  contained  in  Hall  and 
Bernard,  The  Nemesis  in  China,  1847  ed.,  p.  306,  reveal  a  similar 
readiness  to  praise  the  beauty  of  the  island,,  coupled  with  a  detestation 
of  the  "gross  idolatry"  practised  there.  The  authors  apparently  con 
curred  in  the  rather  churlish  remarks  of  a  well-known  missionary 
(W.  H.  Medhurst),  whose  words  they  quote.  "All  its  inhabitants," 
says  Medhurst,  "  are  employed  in  no  other  work  than  the  recitation 
of  unmeaning  prayers  and  the  direction  of  useless  contemplations 
towards  stocks  and  stones  ;  so  that  human  science  and  human  happiness 


262        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN- YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

The  old-fashioned  denunciations  of  heathenism 
may  strike  us  in  these  days  as  merely  whimsical, 
and  perhaps  as  a  trifle  ludicrous,  but  we  should 
not  forget  that  the  intolerant  zeal  of  the  Christian 
pioneers  was,  unfortunately,  not  confined  to  the 
writing  of  books  and  papers  for  the  edification  of 
their  Western  supporters,  but  also  displayed  itself 
in  countless  acts  and  words  of  gross  discourtesy  (to 
say  the  least)  towards  a  people  with  whom  courtesy 
and  tolerance  of  others'  foibles  are  among  the  first 
of  virtues.  Those  acts  and  words  were  to  a  great 
extent  responsible,  not  only  for  many  of  the  anti- 
foreign  outbreaks  that  used  to  be  so  frequent,  but 
also  for  the  pitiful  misunderstandings  which  have 
so  long  prevented  East  and  West  from  getting  to 
know  and  appreciate  one  another's  good  qualities. 

Long  before  the  days  of  Gutzlaff,  Puto  was 
probably  seen,  though  it  was  not  actually  visited, 
by  a  French  Jesuit  priest  named  Le  Comte. 
Writing  of  his  voyage  from  Amoy  to  Ningpo, 
he  thus  describes  the  charming  scenery  of  the 
Chusan  archipelago  : — 

"I  never  saw  anything  so  frightful  as  that  infinite 
number  of  rocks  and  desert  islands  through  which 
we  were  obliged  to  pass.  .  .  .  We  also  steered 

would  not  be  in  the  least  diminished  if  the  whole  of  Puto.,  with  its 
gaudy  temples  and  lazy  priests,  were  blotted  out  from  the  face  of 
creation."  (Cf.  also  Williams,  Middle  Kingdom,  i.  124-6,  for  similar 
ill-tempered  remarks.)  Robert  Fortune,  a  well-known  botanist  of 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  has  also  left  a  description  of 
Puto ;  of  this,  however,  there  is  very  little  reason  to  complain,  for 
Fortune's  temperament  was  tolerant  and  sympathetic,  and  his  books 
may  still  be  read  with  pleasure  and  profit. 


XL]  EARLY   EUROPEAN   VISITORS 

through  a  pretty  wide  bay,  in  which  the  Chinese 
observe  a  profound  silence,  for  fear,  they  tell  us, 
of  disturbing  a  neighbouring  dragon  ;  we  were  con 
strained  to  follow  their  example.  I  know  not  how 
they  call  it ;  as  for  us,  we  named  it  the  Dumb 
Man's  Bay."  1 

He  goes  on  to  say  that,  having  spent  some  time 
among  "  those  horrid  rocks,"  he  arrived  at  last  at 
the  port  of  Ting-hai,  in  the  Island  of  Chusan.  It 
is  evident  that  this  isle-studded  sea,  which  is  now 
becoming  the  resort  of  enthusiastic  tourists  from 
the  West,  gave  small  pleasure  to  our  seventeenth- 
century  Jesuit.  Here  we  have  a  good  example  of 
that  curious  insensibility  to  the  beauty  of  wild 
nature  which  until  comparatively  recent  times  was 
so  curious  a  characteristic  of  civilized  Europe. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  good  father's  indifference 
to  the  picturesque  was  partly  due  to  the  uneasiness 
caused  by  a  violent  storm  from  which  his  little 
vessel  had  but  lately  emerged.  The  dreadful 
omens,  he  tells  us,  increased  as  his  ship  approached 
the  Chusan  Islands.  Fortunately,  however,  he  re 
membered  in  good  time  that  the  great  missionary 
saint  Francis  Xavier  had  already  wrought  many 
miracles  in  those  waters,  and  he  resolved  to  appeal 
to  that  holy  man  to  manifest  his  protecting  power 
on  behalf  of  the  storm- driven  ship. 

"  We  prayed  him,"  he  says,  "  to  divert  the 
tempest,  and  enforced  our  prayers  by  a  vow. 

1  Le  Comte's  Memoirs  (English  trans.,  1738,  p.  11).     The  journey 
described  was  made  late  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


PUTO-SHAN   AND    KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

Scarce  were  we  off  our  knees,  but,  whether  by 
a  miracle  or  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  there 
blew  a  favourable  gale  of  wind,  which  carried  us 
through  some  islands  into  our  desired  port." 

It  might  have  surprised,  and  possibly  dis 
gusted,  the  Catholic  father  if  he  had  been  told 
that  St  Francis  Xavier  had  a  miracle-work 
ing  rival  in  the  channels  of  Chusan.  Indeed 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  at  the  very  time  when 
the  Western  missionaries  were  addressing  their 
supplications  to  St  Francis  the  heathen  members 
of  their  crew  were  simultaneously  addressing 
theirs  to  Kuan-yin.  And  who  is  to  decide 
whether  it  was  the  Christian  saint  or  the 
Buddhist  pusa  who  really  stilled  those  raging 
waters  ?  However  this  may  be,  we  shall  shortly 
find  that  Puto  and  the  neighbouring  seas  were 
the  scenes  of  Kuan-yin 's  miraculous  activities  six 
hundred  years  or  more  before  the  "Apostle  of 
the  Indies  "  was  born.1 

Of  the  island's  pre-Buddhistic  history  next  to 
nothing  is  known.  A  passage  in  the  "Tribute 
of  Yu"  in  the  Shu  Cliing  refers  to  the  "wild 
islanders"  and  their  tribute  of  "grass-woven 
garments,"  and  some  Chinese  commentators  have 
suggested  that  this  passage  (which  deals  with 
events  of  the  third  millennium  B.C.)  may  refer 
to  the  Chusan  islanders.  Coming  down  to  times 
of  which  we  have  more  reliable  historical  record, 

1  St  Francisco  de  Xavier  was  bom  about  1506  and  died  in  1552. 

2  Tao  I. 


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[Facing  p.  264. 


XL]  CHUSAN  ISLANDS  IN  CHINESE  HISTORY    265 

we  find  that  between  two  and  three  thousand 
years  ago  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  Chusan 
Islands  were  people  of  aboriginal  (possibly  Anna- 
mite  or  Shan)  race,  and  formed  part  of  the 
population  of  the  semi-barbarous  principality  of 
Yiieh,  which  for  a  time — in  the  fifth  century 
B.C. — was  the  most  formidable  military  power  in 
Eastern  China.  Even  as  late  as  the  Han  dynasty 
the  islanders  were  undoubtedly  of  non-Chinese 
race.  At  that  time  they  were  known  as  Chien- 
t'i-jen,  the  character  for  t'i  being  a  combination 
of  the  sign  for  "fish"  and  that  for  "barbarian." 
During  the  short-lived  rule  of  the  Ch'in 
dynasty  (third  century  B.C.)  there  was  a  certain 
wizard  named  An-ch'i  Sheng,  who  among  his 
other  attainments  possessed  the  power  of  making 
himself  invisible.  Indeed,  according  to  a  popular 
legend  he  was  never  really  seen  by  any  one,  as  he 
lived  in  the  undiscoverable  fairy  islands  which 
lay  somewhere  in  the  region  of  the  rising  sun. 
There  is,  however,  another  version  of  the  legend, 
from  which  we  learn  that  An-ch'i  Sheng  in  his 
easterly  wanderings  never  got  any  farther  than 
the  island  we  now  know  as  Puto,  which  possibly 
he  mistook,  pardonably  enough,  for  the  fairyland 
of  his  dreams.  He  was  a  skilful  artist ;  but  his 
artistic  methods  were  peculiar  to  himself,  for 
when  he  wished  to  draw  he  used  no  brush  or 
other  implements,  but  merely  upset  his  ink-slab, 
and  without  further  perceptible  activity  on  his 
part  the  blots  of  ink  so  created  would  take  the 


266        PUTO-SHAN  AND  KUAN- YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

form  of  exquisitely  drawn  peach  -  flowers.  His 
skill  was  thus  at  least  as  remarkable  as  that  of 
Wang  Hsia,  a  painter  who  used  to  make  a  blot 
of  ink  and  from  the  blot  drew  beautiful  pictures 
with  either  his  fingers  or  his  toes.  Stories  of 
this  kind,  which  are  simply  a  fanciful  way  of 
describing  the  inexplicable  and  inimitable  powers 
and  achievements  of  genius,  are  often  met  with 
in  the  annals  of  Oriental  art.1  But  the  fact  that 
An-ch'i  Sheng's  artistic  instincts  were  associated 
solely  with  the  peach  was  of  itself  a  significant 
proof  that  he  was  a  wizard :  for  the  peach-tree, 
as  all  Chinese  know,  is  one  of  the  favourite  pro 
ducts  of  fairyland,  and  its  magical  properties  are 
of  unrivalled  renown.2 

The  earliest  Chinese  name  of  Puto  seems  to 
have  been  Mei-ts'en 3  (the  "  Hill  of  Mei ")— a  name 
which  is  still  applied  to  a  small  hill  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  island.  Mei  Fu,  or  Mei 
Tzu-chen,  was  a  prominent  statesman  and  Con 
fucian  scholar  of  the  first  century  B.C.  About 
the  year  6  of  our  era  he  mysteriously  vanished, 
and  it  became  one  of  the  unsolved  problems  of 
biography  whether  he  had  become  an  immortal 
hsien-jen  or  rishi,  or  whether  he  had  merely  retired 

1  We  are    told,   for  example,   that   Kobo   Daishi,   the    Japanese 
founder  of  the   Shingon   sect  of  Buddhism    (774-834),    used  to  take 
a  brush  and  spatter  ink  on  the  wall,  seemingly  at  random  ;  whereupon 
the  blots  would  transform  themselves  into  beautifully  traced  characters. 
Kobo  was  the  most  famous  calligraphist  of  his  day,  and  calligraphy,  as 
is  well  known,  is  regarded  in  China  arid  Japan  as  a  fine  art. 

2  See  above,  p.  252. 

3  T'u-shu-pien  ch.  64  p.  7- 


XL]  BUDDHIST  HISTORY  OF  PUTO  267 

into  voluntary  exile.  According  to  the  traditions 
of  Chehkiang,  his  hiding-place  was  no  other  than 
Puto :  and  his  name  is  attached  not  only  to  a 
hill,  but  also  to  a  modern  Buddhist  temple  (the 
Mei  Fu  Ch'an-yiian)  in  front  of  which  is  a  pool 
of  water  still  known  as  Mei  Fu's  Well. 

It  was  not  till  the  ninth  century  that  Puto 
began  to  acquire  special  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of 
Buddhists.1  Its  patron  pusa  has  always  been 
Kuan-yin  (known  to  the  Japanese  as  Kwannon), 
who,  as  we  saw  in  a  previous  chapter,  is 
the  representative  in  Chinese  Buddhism  of  the 
celestial  bodhisat  Avalokitesvara,  one  of  the  divine 
beings  who  rule  over  Sukhavati,  the  paradise 
of  Amitabha.2 

In  the  popular  religious  lore  of  China,  Kuan- 
yin  is  now  always  represented  as  a  female  divinity. 
Europeans  in  China  know  her  as  the  "  Goddess 
of  Mercy,"  but  she  may  be  described  more 
correctly  as  the  "  Pusa  of  Love  and  Pity."  Her 
full  title  in  Chinese  is  Ta-tzii  ta-pei  chiu-k'u 
Kuan-sliih-yin  tzii-tsai  wang  p'u-sa,  which  may 
be  translated,  "the  All- compassionate  Uncreated 
(or  Self- existent)  Saviour,  the  Royal  Bodhisat 
who  hears  the  cries  of  the  world." 

1  Williams,  in    his    Middle   Kingdom,   i.    126,  says    that   temples 
were    erected    011    the    island    as    early   as    550 ;    but    he    gives    no 
authority  for  this  statement,  which  was  prohahly  due  to  a  confusion  on 
his  part  between  the  earlier  and  later  Liang  dynasties.     A  Chinese 
writer    (P'u-t'o-slian-chih    xvii.    2)     tries    to    carry    the    Buddhist 
traditions  of  Puto  back  to  a  still  earlier  date  (280-289  of  the  Western 
Chin  dynasty)  ;  but  this  statement  also   is   entirely  unsupported  by 
evidence. 

2  See  pp.  100-101. 


268        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN- YIN   PUS  A        [CH. 

Various  suggestions  have  been  made  as  to 
how  the  Chinese  came  to  regard  Kuan-yin  as 
a  female  pusa.  She  is  in  some  respects  the 
Buddhist  counterpart  of  the  deity  known  to 
popular  Taoism  as  T'ien-hou  sheng-mu  ("The 
Holy  Mother  Queen  of  Heaven"),  whose  origin 
is  also  clouded  in  mystery.  Both  are  worshipped 
as  beneficent  and  compassionate  goddesses  who 
save  men  from  misery  and  peril,  especially  from 
the  dangers  of  the  ocean ;  and  both  are  regarded 
as  the  patrons  and  protectors  of  mothers  and  as 
the  bringers  of  children.  That  these  divinities  eye 
one  another  with  no  unfriendly  feelings  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  shrines  to  the  Taoist 
"  Queen  of  Heaven  "  are  to  be  found  on  the  shores 
of  Kuan-yin's  own  sacred  soil  of  Puto.1 

If  an  enquirer  into  Buddhist  origins  wished  to 
claim  Kuan-yin  as  an  importation  from  Europe,  he 
would  no  doubt  emphasize  the  fact  that  in  the 
temples  of  Puto  the  pusa  is  frequently  described 
as  the  Kuo-hai  Kuan-yin  ("  the  Kuan-yin  who 
came  across  the  sea").2  This  epithet,  however, 

1  The  Shrines  to  T'ien-hou  are  in  the  pavilion  at  the  entrance  to  the 
Northern  Monastery  and  in  the  front  hall  of  the  Fu-ch'tian-shen 
Temple.  The  latter  is  near  the  landing-place,  and  close  by  it  stands 
a  temple  (the  Kuang-fu)  dedicated  to  another  Taoist  deity — Kuan-ti, 
the  so-called  "  god  of  war/'  who  is  regarded  by  Chinese  Buddhists, 
rather  unwarrantably,  as  a  spiritual  Hu-fa,  or  Protector  of  the  Faith. 
Popular  Taoism,  it  may  be  added,  possesses  other  female  deities  whose 
functions  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  those  of  T'ien-hou  ;  and, 
indeed  they  may  be  regarded  as  local  manifestations  of  that  goddess. 
Such  is  the  deity  known  as  Pi-hsia-yuan-chun,  or  Niany-niang,  the 
centre  of  whose  worship  is  Tfai-shan,  the  sacred  mountain  of  Shantung. 

a  Sometimes  the  term  used  is  P(iao-hai  (<:  sea-borne  "). 


THE   FA-T'AXG,   SOUTHERN   MONASTERY. 
(Seep.  329.) 


T'lEN-HOU,   THE  TAOIST  QUEEN   OF   HEAVEN,    PUTO-SHAN. 


I  I-'achig  p.  268. 


XL]  BUDDHISM   AND   CATHOLICISM  269 

probably  contains  a  reference  to  the  pusa's  func 
tions  as  captain  of  the  hung-Ja,  the  broad  raft,  or 
"  Bark  of  Salvation,"  on  which  the  souls  of  the 
saved  are  borne  across  the  sea  of  life  and  death 
to  Amitabha's  paradise.  It  is,  of  course,  by  no 
means  impossible  that  the  conception  of  a  sea- 
crossing  Kuan-yin  has  some  remote  connection 
with  similar  myths  which  we  find  embedded  in 
other  religious  systems.1  It  is  well  known  that 
in  the  devotional  literature  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
the  Mater  Dei  is  often  referred  to  as  a  kind  of 
sea-goddess.  The  song  Stella  Moris?  ascribed  to 
the  eighth  century,  "  has  been  breathed  up  in 
numerable  times,"  as  a  recent  writer  observes, 
"by  sailors  who  in  storms  sought  help  from  the 
mild  goddess  who  was  the  '  Star  of  the  Sea,'  and 
who  for  those  in  peril  opened  a  '  window '  in  the 
dark  and  threatening  skies."  3  There  are  similar 
possibilities  in  respect  of  Kuan-yin's  functions  as 
the  bestower  of  children,  in  which  capacity  she 
may  be  compared  with  the  Babylonian  Ishtar 
(Mylitta).4  The  Sung-tzu  Kuan-yin,  like  the  Sung- 
tzu  Niang-niang  of  Taoism,  is  often  represented  as 
carrying  a  male  infant  in  her  arms.  The  belief 
that  she  is  able  to  grant  prayers  for  children  is 
founded  on  a  passage  in  the  Lotus  of  the  Good 
Law*  But  it  does  not  require  much  daring  to 

1  Cf.  J.  M.  Robertson,  Christianity  and  Mythology,  1910,  pp.  213- 
215,  331. 

2  Ave  Maris  Stella,  Dei  Mater  Alma,  etc. 

3  Him,  Sacred  Shrine,  pp.  465-6,  470. 

4  Hastings,  E.R.E.,  ii.  116,  290. 

5  S.B.E.,  xxi.  409.     Russian  peasants  believe  the  same  of  the  Virgin. 


270        PUTO-SHAN    AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

suggest  that  there  was  a  child- carrying  goddess 
worshipped  in  China  long  before  the  Sung-tzu 
Kuan-yin  was  ever  heard  of.1 

Chinese  Buddhists  acknowledge  that  the  original 
seat  of  Kuan-yin's  worship  was  at  a  great  distance 
from  China.  According  to  one  of  the  interpreta 
tions  of  the  name  of  Avalokitesvara,  it  means  the 
Lord  (Isvara)  who  looks  down  from  a  height.  The 
"  height "  is  the  sacred  mountain  of  Potalaka,  a 
place  which  is  always  associated  with  the  worship 
of  this  bodhisat.  Where  the  original  Potalaka  was 
is  a  disputed  question.  It  is  usually  assumed  to 
have  been  a  rocky  hill  to  the  east  of  the  Malaya 
Mountain,  in  Southern  India,  near  the  harbour  of 
Cape  Komorin.2  If  this  identification  is  correct, 
it  seems  highly  probable  that  the  deity  worshipped 
there  was  of  non-Buddhistic  origin ;  and,  indeed, 
there  is  evidence  to  associate  her  (or  him)  with 
the  worship  paid  to  Hindu  deities  such  as  Siva.8 
However  this  may  be,  the  cult  of  Avalokitesvara 
spread  not  only  to  China,  but  also  to  Tibet.  A 

1  On  the  subject  of  the  very  wide  extension  of  the  cult  of  the 
mother-and-child,  see  J.  M.  Robertson,  op.  cit.,  pp.  166-172. 

2  See    Waddell,    Lhasa    and    its    Mysteries,    1905,    pp.    364    and 
388 ;     Hastings,    E.R.E.,    ii.    259 ;      Watters,     Yuan     Chwang,   "ii. 
228-232.      A  description  of  the  hill   may  be  found  in  the  Hua-yen 
sutra    (B.N.  88),  ch.    68   (see  Har.  i.  vol.  iv.  p.  33).      The   Shan-ts'ai 
who  is   mentioned   there,   and   figures   prominently  in   the   sutra,   is 
commemorated  by  a  ' '  cave  "  named  after  him  in  the  eastern  peninsula 
of  Puto-shan.     Of  course  neither  the  original  author  of  the  sutra  nor 
the  translator  into  Chinese  makes  any  specific  reference  to  the  Chinese 
Potalaka,  of  which  neither  had  any  knowledge. 

3  See  Poussin  in  E.E.E.,  pp.  258  /.     Poussin  believes  that  "the 
Chinese  transformation  of  Avalokita  into  a  woman  had  probably  been 
already  effected  in  India." 


XL]  THE  LITTLE   WHITE   FLOWER  271 

second  Potalaka  was  created  at  Lhasa,  and  that 
palace- crowned  rock  remains  to  this  day  the  head 
quarters  of  the  Dalai  Lama,  who  is  himself  re 
garded  as  an  incarnation  of  the  divine  bodhisat. 
The  Buddhists  of  China  decided  that  they  too 
must  have  a  Potalaka  for  their  Kuan-yin,  and  the 
place  selected  by  them  was  no  other  than  our 
island  of  Puto,  of  which  the  unabbreviated  Chinese 
name  is  P'u-t'o-lo-ka,  or  (in  the  Hua-yen  sutra) 
Pu-ta-lo-ka.  "  Puto  "  is  thus  merely  a  shortened 
form  of  "  Potaloka." 

A  writer  of  the  Yuan  dynasty  says  that  in  the 
T'ang  period  (618-906)  Puto  was  known  as  Hsiao- 
pai-hua-shan,  which  means  "  the  Island  of  the 
Little  White  Flower."  J  This  delightful  name  was 
probably  given  to  it  by  the  Buddhists,  for  it  is 
still  in  common  use  by  them ;  indeed  they  assert 
that  the  name  is  equivalent  to,  or  is  a  rendering 
of,  the  original  word  "Potalaka."2  The  name  of 
Hsiao-pai-hua  is  certainly  an  appropriate  one, 
inasmuch  as  Puto  is  famous  for  a  certain  beautiful 
and  fragrant  white  flower  which  grows  wild  all 
over  the  island.  This  flower  is  the  gardenia 
florida. 

When  did  the  cult  of  Avalokitesvara,  or  Kuan- 
yin,  take  root  in  China  ?    This  is  a  difficult  question 

1  See  Ming-shan-shcng-kai-chi,  vol.   xx.  ch.    18.     The  same  writer 
says  that  the  Tang  I  ("Eastern  Barbarians")  used  to  come  for  trad 
ing  purposes  to  Ting-hai,  the  capital  of  Chusan.      The  Tung  I  were 
probably  the  Japanese,  whose  intercourse  with  this  part  of  China  goes 
back  to  the  Chou  dynasty,   when  Chehkiang   and  the   neighbouring 
regions  were  under  the  rule  of  the  princes  of  Wu  and  Yiieh, 

2  See  Eitel,  Handbook,  s.v.  Potala. 


PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [CH. 

to  answer,  especially  when  we  observe  that  there 
are  two  Buddhistic  cults,  more  or  less  distinct, 
with  which  Avalokitesvara  is  associated.  In  the 
Amidist  cult  Avalokitesvara  is  one  of  a  triad  of 
divinities  who  rule  the  Western  Paradise  and  act 
as  the  saviours  of  mankind.  This  cult  may  be  said 
to  have  its  scriptural  foundation  in  the  "  Pure- 
Land  "  sutras,  which  were  translated  into  Chinese 
between  the  second  and  fifth  centuries.1  But 
there  is  also  the  Avalokitesvara  of  the  Hua-yen 
and  Fa-hua  scriptures,  who  may  be  worshipped  for 
his  own  sake,  irrespective  of  his  association  with  the 
Buddha  Amitabha.  One  of  the  scriptural  bases  of 
this  cult  is  a  concluding  chapter  of  the  Lotus  of 
the  Good  Law,  a  sutra  which  was  first  translated 
into  Chinese  about  the  end  of  the  third  century.2 
In  Puto  Kuan-yin  takes  precedence  of  every 
other  divinity,  and  this  pusa's  image  occupies  the 
place  of  honour  in  the  principal  hall  of  nearly 
every  temple.3  This  does  not  imply,  however,  that 

1  See  above,  p.  95. 

2  This  is  the  Saddharmapundarika,  of  which  several   translations 
(apparently  from  at  least  two  different  Sanskrit  texts)  were  made  into 
Chinese  between  the   years  265  and  601.      The  earliest  was   made 
between  265  and  316.     This  is  the  Cheng  Fa-hua-ching,  translated  by 
Dharmaraksha  (B.N.  138,  Har.  xi.  vol.  ii.  pp.  1-57).     In  this  transla 
tion  the  name  of  Kuan-shih-yiri  is  given  as  Kuang-shih-yin  (see  Index). 
The  most  popular  translation  is  that  of  Kumarajiva,  made  between  384 
and  417  (B.N.  134,  Har.  xi.  vol.  i.  pp.  6-54).     B.N.  136  and  137  are 
only  fragments.     A  third  complete  translation  of  the  sutra  is  B.N.  139 
(Har.  xi.  vol.  ii.  pp.  57-106).      The  sutra   has   been  translated  into 
English  (from  the  Sanskrit)  by  Kern,  S.B.E.,  vol.  xxi.     For  the  section 
on  Kuan-yin,  see  pp.  408  ff. 

3  It  is   for   this   reason   that   the   principal   pavilion   or  chapel  of 
the  monasteries  of  Puto  is  described  as  Yuan-t(ung  Pao-tien3  not  as 


XL]  THE   GREAT   BODHISATS  273 

the  Amidist  theology  is  ignored  or  repudiated. 
On  the  contrary,  Kuan-yin's  position  as  one  of 
the  rulers  of  Amitabha's  paradise,  and  as  spiritual 
Son,  or  Word,  of  the  glorious  Amitabha  himself, 
is  at  least  theoretically  recognized.1 

It  is  not  difficult  to  find  an  explanation  of 
the  undoubted  fact  that  Kuan-yin  has  attained  in 
China  and  Japan  a  popularity  far  exceeding  that 
of  any  of  the  other  great  bodhisats.  So  long  as 
Kuan-yin  was  still  the  male  Avalokitesvara,  his 
position  seems  to  have  been  no  more  conspicuous 
than  that  of  many  other  pusas,  such  as  Wen-shu, 
P'u-hsien,  Ti-tsang,  and  Ta-shih-chih,  and  at  one 
time  he  was  probably  regarded  as  distinctly  inferior 
to  Mi-lei  (Maitreya),  whose  unique  position  as  the 
bodhisat  who  is  destined  to  be  the  next  Buddha 
(hence  sometimes  referred  to  by  Europeans  as  the 
"  Buddhist  Messiah ")  is  vouched  for  in  the  Pali 
canon.2  That  the  change  of  sex  should  have 
intensified  Kuan-yin's  popularity  will  not  be  a 

Ta-hf>iung  Pao-tien.  Ta-hsiung,  usually  translated  ee  Great  Hero,"  is  an 
epithet  of  £akyamuni  Buddha,  whereas  Yuan-t'ung  ("One  of  com 
prehensive  understanding ")  is  an  epithet  of  Kuan-yin. 

1  When  Kuan-yin's  image  is  associated  with  that  of  Amitabha,  it 
is  Amitabha  who,  even  at  Puto,  occupies  the  central  position,  Kuan- 
yin  supporting  him  on  one  side  and  Ta-shih-chih  on  the  other  (see 
above,  p.  100).     Many  of  the  images  of  Kuan-yin  are  represented  with 
a  miniature  image  of  Amitabha  Buddha  in  the  front  of  the  crown  or 
head-dress.     The  yin  of  Kuan-yin  signifies  Sound  or  Voice.     For  some 
interesting  observations  on  Kuan-yin  as  Voice  or  Word  of  the  divine 
Buddha  Amitabha,  see  Beal,  Catena,  pp.  387-8. 

2  We  should  note,  however,  that  the  pilgrim-monk  Fa-hsien,  who 
flourished  about  410,  was  a  worshipper  of  Kuan-yin,  and  regarded  her 
(or  him)  as  the  pusa  to  whom  prayers  should  be  offered  for  deliverance 
from  shipwreck. 

S 


274        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN- YIN   PUSA         [CH. 

matter  of  surprise  to  those  who  have  followed  the 
course  of  dogmatic  developments  in  other  faiths. 
Writing  of  the  cult  of  the  Virgin  in  Christendom, 
an  English  critic  of  our   own   day  remarks  that 
Mary  "  is  frankly  an  idealization  of  womanhood ; 
she  is  worshipped  simply  because  that  is  the  sort 
of  being  which  people  feel  it  good  to  worship," 
although    she    is    "  admittedly   a   creature   of  the 
imagination." l     Kuan-yin,  too,   is   worshipped   in 
China  and  Japan  as  an  idealization  of  womanhood, 
and  she  has  gained  popularity  because  the  ideal 
is  one  which  touches  people's  emotions  and  lessens 
the  gap  between  the  merely  human  and  the  un 
approachably  divine.2 

It  has  been  said  by  certain  European  writers 
that  Kuan-yin  was  not  recognized  as  a  female 
until  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century.3  It 

1  Henry  Start,  Ideal  of  a  Free  Church,  1909,  p.  243.      Cf.  F.  M. 
Cornford,  From  Religion  to  Philosophy,  1912,  p.   113.      "The  really 
living  objects  of  Christian  cult  are   the  figures  of  actual   men  and 
women — the  Virgin,  her  Son,  the  saints,  and  martyrs  "  (see  also  Miss 
Eckenstein,  Women  wider  Monasticism,  ch.  i.). 

2  With  regard  to  the  question  of  possible  Western  influences,  it 
may  be  noted   that  Nestorianism   has   been  suspected  (though   with 
doubtful  justification)  in  the  form  of  the  liturgical  services  of  Kuau- 
yin.     For  a  description    and   translation  of  the   liturgy,  the   reader 
may  be  referred   to  Beal,  Catena,  pp.  396  ff. ,  and  to  his  Buddhism 
in    China,    1884,   pp.    133  ff.      Beal  did   not   quite   realize   that   the 
qualities  and   functions   ascribed  to   Kuan-yin  (especially  as   Saviour 
or   Redeemer)   are  regarded    by  Buddhism   as   common    to   all   the 
great  pusas  ;  the  position  of  Kuan-yin  is  therefore  not  unique,  as  he 
supposed  it  to  be.     Kuan-yin  like  Amitabha  and  Ti-tsang  and  others 
innumerable,  commenced  their  careers  as  bodhisats  by  uttering  great 
C(  vows  "  to  save  mankind.     Kuan-yin  is  sometimes  said  to  have  uttered 
twelve  such  vows.    Amitabha,  as  we  saw  on  p.  96,  registered  over  forty. 

3  See  Edkins,  Chinese  Buddhism,  1893  ed.,  p.  382,  and  Prof.  H.  A. 
Giles,  Glossary  of  Reference,  s.v.  Kwan-yin. 


XL]  SEX   OF   KUAN-YIN  275 

may  be  true  that  the  recognition  did  not  become 
general  until  that  time,  but  there  is  ample  evi 
dence  that  at  a  much  earlier  date  Kuan-yin  was 
sometimes,  at  any  rate,  regarded  as  a  female  pusa. 
The  best  proof  of  this  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in 
various  extant  examples  of  pictorial  art.  A  high 
authority  on  Oriental  art  assures  us  that  there  are 
Chinese  paintings  of  Kuan-yin  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  centuries  which  are  "  markedly  feminine  "  ; 
though  he  admits  that  there  are  other  paintings 
of  the  same  era  which  represent  the  pusa  as  a  male.1 
Among  the  miscellaneous  notes  and  disserta 
tions  which  have  been  given  a  place  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Puto,  there  is  an  essay  that  con 
tains  an  elaborate,  almost  luxurious,  description  of 
Kuan-yin's  personal  appearance ; 2  and  this  essay, 
which  assumes  that  Kuan-yin  is  a  female,  has 
been  attributed  to  the  poet  Wang  Po,  who  died 
in  676.3  According  to  the  scholarly  editors  of  the 
last  edition  of  the  Chronicle,  the  inferior  literary 
style  of  the  essay  proves  that  it  cannot  have  been 
written  by  Wang  Po ;  but  even  if  we  assume  that 
it  was  only  the  work  of  an  unknown  member  of 
Wang  Po's  literary  circle,  it  affords  corroborative 
evidence  that  Kuan-yin's  change  of  sex  was 

1  See   Fenollosa,    Epochs   of    Chinese    and   Japanese   Art,    1912,    i. 
105  and  124;  ii.  49,  50.     In  vol.  i.  p.  122,  may  be  seen  a  reproduc 
tion  of  a  painting  by  the  Chinese  artist  Yen  Li-pen,  of  the  seventh 
century.     This  figure  seems  to  be  a  female,  whereas  the  Kuan-yin 
of  Wu  Tao-tzii  (eighth  century),  reproduced  on  p.  132,  is  distinctly 
male. 

2  Chih,  ch.  xx.  pp.  19-20. 

3  He  was  a  well- known  poet  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  and,  like  Shelley, 
was  accidentally  drowned  in  his  twenty-ninth  year. 


276        PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [OH. 

recognized  in  literature,   as  in  pictorial  art,  long 
before  the  twelfth  century. 

The  womanhood  of  Kuan-yin  does  not  contra 
dict,  and  is  not  inconsistent  with,  the  Mahayanist 
scriptures.  All  the  bodhisats  may,  in  the  course 
of  their  age-long  careers  as  saviours  of  the  world, 
appear  on  earth  in  female  form.  We  have  already 
had  occasion  to  notice  that  Ti-tsang  did  so  in  more 
than  one  of  his  "incarnations."1  There  is  also  a 
passage  in  the  Lotus  of  the  G-ood  Law  which 
expressly  says  that  Kuan-yin  will  appear  in  female 
form  when  that  form  is  appropriate  to  circum 
stances.2  An  educated  Buddhist,  and  especially  a 
genuine  mystic  of  the  Ch'ari  school,  brushes  all 
these  notions  aside  as  of  no  real  importance.  The 
true  Kuan-yin,  he  says,  is  by  nature  both  sexless 
and  formless,  but  is  capable  of  assuming,  or  of 
appearing  to  assume,  all  forms.3 

1  See  pp.  178,  182. 

2  It  may  be  noted  that  there  evidently  is  a  Sanskrit  text  which 
contains  a  shorter   list  of  Kuan-yin's   "transformations"   than   that 
contained  in  the  text,  or  texts,  from  which  B.N.  134  and  139  were 
translated.     Kern's  translation  (S.B.E.,  xxi.  410-411)  is  from  a  text 
which  does  not  mention   Kuan-yin's  female  transformations.     I  find 
by  examination   that  the  earliest  extant  Chinese  translation  of  the 
sutra  (B.N.  138)  omits  them  also.     Kern's  Sanskrit  original  seems  to 
have  been  the  text  which  was  also  followed  by  the  first  translator  into 
Chinese  (Dharmaraksha).     The  technical  term  to  express  the  ' ( trans 
formations  "  of  Kuan-yin  is  sui-clii-ying-hsien. 

3  Fenollosa  correctly  says  that  c '  a  great  bodhisattva  is  in  its  own 
nature  indeterminate  as  to  sex,  having  risen  above  the  distinction,  or 
rather  embodying  in  itself  the  united  spiritual  graces  of  both  sexes. 
It  is  a  matter  of  accident  which  one  it  may  assume  upon  incarnation. 
It  just  happens  that  T'ang  thought,  or  preferred  to  think,  of  Kwannon 
(Kuan-yin)  as  a  great  demiurge  or  creator,  while  Sung  preferred  to 
lay  stress  upon  the  element  of  motherhood  "  (op.  cit.,  i.  124). 


PAVILION    IN   FRONT   OF   SOUTHERN   MONASTERY. 

(Seep.  329.) 


COURTYARD   IN   FRONT   OF   GREAT   HALL  OF   KUAN-YIN, 
SOUTHERN    MONASTERY. 

(Seep.&g.) 


[Facing  p.  276. 


XL]  THE   MOTHER   OF  BUDDHA  277 

Western  students  of  Buddhism  may  ask  how 
it  was  that  Chinese  Buddhists,  wishing  to  do 
reverence  to  a  female  divinity,  selected  an 
imaginary  being  such  as  Kuan-yin,  when  they 
might  have  chosen  the  real  mother  of  the 
historical  Gotama.  The  explanation  probably 
lies  in  the  unwillingness  of  the  Buddhist  creed- 
makers  to  bring  about  an  "  entangling  alliance " 
between  matters  of  faith  (or  perhaps  we  should 
say  religious  reverie)  and  matters  of  historical 
fact.  On  this  topic  it  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to 
add  to  the  observations  already  made  in  an 
earlier  chapter,  though  the  subject  is  one  which 
in  view  of  recent  tendencies  in  Christian  apologetic 
will  probably  be  found  by  Western  theologians 
to  be  worthy  of  close  attention.1 

It  would  be  erroneous,  indeed,  to  suppose 
that  Maya,  the  mother  of  Gotama,  has  not  been 
regarded  with  deep  reverence  by  all  Buddhists. 
The  doctrine  of  Buddha's  virgin  birth  is  not 
canonical,  and  was  probably  borrowed  from  one 
of  the  numerous  religions  in  which  we  find  traces 
of  a  similar  doctrine,  or  from  the  general  stock  of 
current  religious  theory.  But  the  belief  in  Maya's 
exceptional  purity  and  holiness  is  common  to 
the  Buddhists  of  all  schools.2  The  Hmayana,  as 
we  should  expect,  refers  to  her  as  a  being  who, 
though  honoured  above  all  others  of  her  sex,  was 

1  See  pp.  58,  114  /.,  174. 

2  The  Nativity  of  Buddha   was   a  favourite   subject  with    Indian 
sculptors,  especially  of  the  Gandhara  school  (nee  PI.  xxix  in  Vincent 
A.  Smith,  History  of  Fine  Art  in  India  and  Ceylon). 


278        PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [CH 

nevertheless  the  human  mother  of  a  human  son : 
for  Gotama,  be  it  remembered,  was  not  born  a 
Buddha ;  he  became  one  during  his  life  on  earth. 
In  many  of  the  Mahayana  sutras  Maya  occupies 
an  exalted  place  among  the  celestial  beings  who 
assemble  to  do  honour  to  the  deified  Buddha, 
and  there  must  have  been  a  possibility  at  one 
time  that  a  glorified  Maya — the  Mayadevi — would 
eventually  be  elevated  to  a  heavenly  throne  near 
that  of  the  glorified  £akyamuni,  her  divine  Son.1 
We  have  seen  that,  according  to  a  Mahayanist 
theory,  Maya  is  "the  eternal  Mother  of  all  the 
Buddhas,"  though  this  theory  loses  some  of  its 
significance  when  we  find  that  she  is  not  the 
only  divine  being  to  whom  this  exalted  title  has 
been  accorded.2 

There  is  one  rather  mysterious  deity  in  whom 
we  may  possibly  discern  a  deified  form  of 
Gotama's  mother.  This  is  Chun-t'i  (Chundi-devI), 
who  is  also  sometimes  described  in  Chinese  as 
"  Holy  Mother  "  (shSng-mu)  and  as  the  "  Mother  of 
Buddha"  (Fo  mu}.  This  being  plays  a  far  more 
important  part  in  Tantric  Buddhism  (that  is, 
the  Buddhism  of  word  -  mysticism  and  magic) 
than  in  the  ordinary  Buddhism  of  monastic 
China.  Her  image,  however,  is  often  seen 
in  Chinese  Buddhist  temples.  She  is  usually 

1  Among  the  sutras  in  which  Maya  receives  prominence,  cf.  B.N. 
153  and  082,  in  addition  to  the  Ti-tsang  sutra  dealt  with  ahove  (see 
p.  175).     According  to  some  Buddhists,  Maya  has  been  reborn  in  one 
of  the  heavens  as  a  male  deity,  and  rules  there  as  king. 

2  See  p.  181.     The  title  has  also  been  given  to  the  pusa  Wett-shtij 
the  personified  Wisdom  of  Buddhahood, 


XL]  MARICHI  279 

represented  with  eighteen  arms,  and  sometimes 
with  a  third  eye  in  the  middle  of  the  forehead.1 
By  some  authorities  Chun-t'i  is  identified  with 
the  Marichi  of  Brahmanic  mythology,  and  also 
with  the  Chinese  T*ien-hou  ("  Queen  of  Heaven"), 
the  Taoist  deity  already  mentioned.  Marichi, 
however,  appears  in  Chinese  Tantric  literature 
under  her  own  name,  of  which  the  Chinese  form 
is  Mo-li-chih.  It  has  been  daringly  suggested  that 
the  name  Marichi  was  derived  from  "  the  name  of 
the  holy  Virgin  Mary."  This  cannot  be  correct, 
because  Marichi  is  mentioned  as  a  divine  being 
in  pre-Christian  Brahmanical  literature.3  Marichi 
was  one  of  the  "  ten  great  sages,  lords  of  created 
beings."  Sometimes  among  Chinese  Buddhists 
Chun-t'i  is  identified  with  Kuan-yin,  but  the  identifi 
cation  does  not  appear  to  be  authorized  by  the  books.4 

1  The    illustration     is    from    a    tablet  -  rubbing.       Such     artistic 
monstrosities   as   these  are   of  Indian,    not   Chinese,   origin.     "The 
artists,"  as  a  leading  authority  on  Indian  art  rightly  observes,  "  under 
take  to  reproduce  literally  in  stone  or  bronze  the  descriptions  of  the 
deities  as    given   in   the   books,  with  little  regard   to   aesthetic  con 
siderations,  and   no   form   is  regarded  as  too   monstrous  for    plastic 
representation.     The  result  too  often  is  merely  grotesque  and  absurd, 
when  looked  at  by  anybody  who  is  not  steeped  in  the  notions  of  Hindu 
symbolism,  but  occasionally  is  horrible.  .  .  .   Such  forms,  of  course, 
have  their  meaning  for  the  Hindu  or  Mahayanist  Buddhist  instructed 
in  the  mysteries  of  his  faith,  and  may  be  used  by  him  as  aids  to 
devotion,  but   from  the   artistic  point   of  view  they  are  .  .   .    inde 
fensible"  (Vincent  A.  Smith,  op.  ait.,  p.  182). 

2  Georgi,  quoted  by  Eitel,  Handbook,  p.  98  ;  and  see  Beal,  Catena, 
p.  412. 

3  Of.  the  Bhagavadyltd  and  the  Laws  of  Manu,  S.B.E.,  viii.  19,  88, 
387;  and  xxv.  14,  19,  112.     See  aho  Vincent  A.  Smith,  op.  cit.,  pp. 
182,  186,  188. 

4  For  the  Chinese  sutras  on  Chun-tfi,  see  B.N.  344,  345,  346.     These 
sutras  all  appear  to   have  been  translated   into   Chinese   during  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries. 


280         PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

On  the  whole,  we  may  say  that  the  Buddhists 
in  their  religious  meditations  have  generally 
treated  the  figure  of  the  human  mother  of  the 
historical  founder  of  their  faith  in  a  manner  that 
does  credit  to  their  imaginative  delicacy  and 
good  taste ;  and  in  China  and  Japan  they  have 
found  solace  for  this  self-imposed  restraint  in  the 
rapturous  contemplation  of  the  infinite  graces  of 
their  ever -loving  and  compassionate  Lady,  the 
pusa  Kuan-yin. 

The  recognized  sutras  contain  innumerable 
references  to  the  earthly  and  heavenly  activities  of 
the  great  pusa,  but  there  is  what  we  may  call  a 
romantic  story  of  Kuan-yin  as  well  as  a  scriptural 
one ;  and  it  is  the  romantic  story  which  is  nearest 
to  the  hearts  of  the  Buddhist  laity.  This  narra 
tive,  which  is  much  too  long  for  insertion  in 
these  pages,  is  simply  a  religious  fairy-tale,  and 
narrates  the  noble  and  virtuous  deeds  of  the 
pusa  and  the  terrible  persecutions  to  which  she 
was  subjected  during  the  life  which  she  spent 
on  earth  (in  the  days  of  the  Buddha  Kasyapa)  as 
the  youngest  of  three  princesses,  daughters  of  a 
certain  great  king.1 

According  to  the  writers  who  contribute  pre 
faces  to  modern  editions  of  the  story,  it  was 
originally  composed  in  the  year  1102  of  our  era, 

1  The  germ  of  the  story  may  possibly  be  found  in  the  tale  of 
the  heretical  king  and  his  two  Buddhist  sons,  which  forms  the  subject 
of  a  section  of  the  Lotus  sutra  (see  B.N.  138,  Har.  xi.  vol.  ii.  pp. 
54-6  ;  B.N.  134,  Har.  xi.  vol.  i.  pp.  51-2  ;  B.N.  139,  Har.  xi.  vol.  ii. 
pp.  104-5  ;  8.B.E.  xxi.  419/.). 


•>-••  -  ••••••I 

A   HERMIT   OF   PUTO  AT   THE   DOOR   OF   HIS   HERMITAGE. 

[  Facing  p.  280. 


XL]  STORY  OF  KUAN-YIN  281 

in  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Hui  Tsung,  of  the 
Sung  dynasty,  by  a  monk  named  P'u-ming.  It 
is  perhaps  the  knowledge  of  the  date  of  this 
story  which  gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  Kuan-yin 
was  not  recognized  as  a  female  pusa  till  the 
twelfth  century.  It  is,  indeed,  by  no  means 
unlikely  that  the  great  popularity  of  the  story 
hastened  the  general  acceptance  of  the  theory  that 
Kuan-yin  was  a  female,  but  it  is  certainly  incorrect 
to  regard  the  story  as  the  sole  origin  of  the  theory. 
The  monk  P'u-ming,  we  are  told,  once  spent 
three  months  in  solitary  meditation,  and  was  then 
visited  by  a  strange  apparition  in  the  guise 
of  an  ancient  hermit.  After  commending  his 
religious  zeal,  the  hermit  bade  him  employ  his 
time  by  writing  down  a  full  account  of  the 
wonderful  life  and  acts  of  the  blessed  Kuan-yin, 
so  that  all  who  read  or  heard  it  might  be  brought 
to  a  full  knowledge  of  the  saintly  career  of  that 
divine  pusa  and  thereby  become  partakers  of  the 
heavenly  bliss  promised  to  all  who  should  take 
her  for  their  guide  and  saviour.  P'u-ming 
reverently  and  obediently  accepted  the  task  im 
posed  upon  him  by  his  ghostly  visitor,  and 
thereafter  spent  many  industrious  days  in  writing 
down  the  story  of  Kuan-yin's  life  on  earth. 
When  he  had  reached  the  last  page  and  had 
laid  down  his  pen  he  was  rewarded  by  a  glorious 
vision  of  the  radiant  pusa  herself.  P'u-ming 
and  his  fellow-monks — for  she  was  visible  also 
to  them  —  prostrated  themselves  in  adoration, 


282        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN- YIN   PUSA        [OH. 

while  like  a  floating  cloud  she  passed  before 
their  eyes.  Her  figure  was  clad  in  rainbow- 
tinted  vesture,  and  in  her  hands  she  bore  her 
well-known  emblems — the  drooping  willow  and 
the  vase  of  heavenly  dew. 

P'u-ming's  romantic  story  of  Kuan-yin's  life  as 
an  earthly  princess  is  written  in  direct  and  simple 
language  which  renders  it  suitable  for  public 
recitation.  There  are  some  preliminary  directions, 
indeed,  which  indicate  that  the  work  was  intended 
to  be  read  aloud  in  the  Buddhist  temples  to  lay 
audiences  on  the  occasion  of  the  pusa's  birthday, 
which  is  celebrated  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the 
second  (Chinese)  month.  The  reader  or  reciter 
(who  would  naturally  be  one  of  the  monastic 
fraternity)  should  prepare  himself  for  his  sacred 
task  by  ceremonial  fasting  and  purification,  and  by 
donning  clean  robes.  He  opens  his  discourse  by 
reminding  his  audience  that  this  day  is  the  blessed 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  loving  and  com 
passionate  pusa  Kuan-yin.  He  draws  near  to  the 
altar,  he  says,  in  order  that  he  may  utter,  in  the 
hearing  of  all  the  assembled  faithful,  the  precious 
words  in  which  the  life  of  the  pusa  is  recorded. 
The  congregation  is  enjoined  to  sit  down  and  to 
maintain  decorous  silence  ;  to  avoid  idle  chattering, 
and  to  put  away  frivolity  ;  to  be  orderly,  quiet,  and 
reverential.  All  must  follow  carefully  the  mean 
ing  of  what  they  hear,  and  having  hearkened 
diligently  to  the  truths  that  are  promulgated,  they 
must  strive  to  give  effect  to  them  in  their  own 


XL]  RELIGIOUS   FAITH  283 

lives.  In  the  scriptures  it  is  written  that  the  pusa 
bears  the  name  of  Kuan-shih-yin  (the  "  One  who 
looks  upon  the  world  and  hears  its  cries  "),  because 
if  any  living  creature  who  is  in  trouble  or  in  pain 
addresses  a  prayer  to  this  pusa,  and  in  true  faith 
calls  upon  her  name,  then  will  the  pusa  immediately 
hearken  to  his  cries  and  bring  him  deliverance 
from  his  woes.1  If  any  living  creature  clings  for 
support  to  the  potent  name  of  Kuan-yin,  he  may 
be  thrown  into  a  raging  furnace,  but  the  flames 
will  leave  him  unscathed  ;  he  may  be  in  peril  from 
sharp  swords,  but  the  steel  will  break  in  pieces ; 
he  may  be  in  danger  of  death  from  drowning, 
but  the  blessed  pusa  will  come  to  his  rescue  and 
set  him  in  a  place  of  shallow  waters.2 

The  student  of  religion  will   pause  before  he  — 
ridicules  or  condemns  these  extravagant  utterances.      / 
It  is  not  difficult  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  truth 
that  lies  behind  such  crudities  of  language.     The     I 
Buddhists,  like  the  adherents  of  other  creeds,  have 
discovered   that    intensity   of    religious   faith    will  r 

enable  a  man  to  rise  superior  to  all  pain  and  to 
despise  all  danger.  The  limitations  and  imper 
fections  of  the  flesh  are  powerless  to  curb  the 
freedom  of  the  mind.  You  may  chain  a  heretic  to 
the  stake,  but  you  cannot  put  fetters  on  his  soul ; 
you  may  throw  a  martyr  to  the  lions,  and  they 
may  tear  flesh  from  bone,  but  they  cannot  violate 

1  'llie  scriptural  passage  referred  to  is  in  the  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law 
(see  S.B.E.,  xxi.  400 /.  ;  and  Beal,  Catena,  pp.  .389/.). 

2  Pictorial  illustrations  of  these  and  other  miracles  performed  hy 
Kuan-yin  are  often  to  he  seen  in  Chinese  temple  frescoes. 


284         PUTO-SHAN  AND   KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [CH. 

the  texture  of  his  spirit.  Let  it  not  surprise  us, 
then,  to  find  that  the  Buddhist  stories  of  the 
miraculous  efficacy  of  faith  in  Kuan-yin — stories 
which  are  based  on  the  records  of  actual  experience 
— are  paralleled  in  Christian  hagiology.  Maximinus 
orders  St  Catherine  of  Alexandria  to  be  broken 
on  the  wheel,  but  the  wheel  itself  is  shattered  in 
pieces  ;  Blandina  is  sent  to  the  amphitheatre,  but 
the  wild  beasts  refuse  to  touch  her ;  Herman  of 
Cologne  is  condemned  to  death  as  a  felon,  yet 
faith  in  St  Elizabeth  restores  him  to  life;  the 
judge  Paschasius  puts  St  Lucy  in  a  furnace  that 
blazes  with  oil  and  pitch,  but  the  saint  stands 
unhurt  amid  the  flames.  Of  the  undeniable  truths 
which  are  but  thinly  disguised  in  such  stories  as 
these,  psychological  analysis  may  have  one  explana 
tion  to  offer,  religious  experience  another.  Perhaps 
neither  is  wholly  right  and  neither  wholly  wrong. 

A  few  words  may  be  necessary  to  elucidate  the 
reference  to  the  willow- branch  and  the  vase  of 
heavenly  dew,  which  were  mentioned  as  Kuan-yin's 
favourite  emblems.  The  vase  is  known  in  Chinese 
as  the  ching-p'ing,  which  means  "pure  vessel," 
and  the  term  is  understood  to  be  the  equivalent 
of  a  Sanskrit  word  which  means  "  the  vase  of 
immortality."1  The  ching  -  p'ing  was  known  in 
China  in  pre  -  Buddhist  days.  It  was  then  a 
shallow  dish,  which  was  intended  to  catch  the  dew, 
and  with  this  object  it  was  usually  placed  in  the 

1  Cf.  Beal,  Buddhist  Records  (1906  ed.),  ii.  137,  172  ;  and  Walters, 
Yuan  Chwang,  ii.  50. 


XL]  THE   EMBLEMS   OF  KUAN- YIN  285 

outstretched  hand  of  an  image  or  statue.  Some 
times,  apparently,  it  was  simply  a  cup-like  hollow 
scooped  out  of  a  rock  on  the  summit  of  a 
mountain.  The  dew  collected  by  this  means  was 
believed  to  confer  immortality  on  those  who  used 
it  to  moisten  their  lips  and  eyelids.1  In  the  hands 
of  Kuan-yin  the  vessel  is  usually  represented  as  a 
narrow-necked  phial  (kalasa],  from  which  the  pusa 
sprinkles  heavenly  dew  on  her  worshippers,  and 
so  endows  them  with  the  promise  of  endless  bliss 
in  the  Western  Paradise,  or  from  which  she  pours 
upon  them  the  celestial  incense  which  accompanies 
the  consecration  (abhisheka)  of  every  bodhisat.2 

With  regard  to  the  other  sacred  emblem  carried 
by  Kuan-yin,  we  may  notice  in  the  first  place  that 
the  pusa's  Indian  prototype,  Avalokitesvara,  is 
represented  as  holding,  not  a  willow-branch,  but  a 
lotus-flower — hence  the  epithet  padmapdni  ("  lotus- 
bearer").  The  lotus,  as  we  know,  is  to  Buddhists 
a  sacred  plant,  and  perhaps  we  need  look  for  no 
other  reason  for  its  presence  in  the  hand  of  a  holy 
bodhisat.3  But  it  seems  difficult  to  understand 
why  in  China  Kuan-yin  has  come  to  be  associated 

1  Cf.  the  European  folk-lore  concerning  the  washing  of  the  face 
with  dew  on  May  morning. 

2  According  to  another  theory,  healing  waters  issue  from  the  pusa's 
finger-tips.     This  is  a  more  pleasing  conception  than  the  Hindu  notion 
of  the  sacred  Ganga  River,,  which  Hows  from  the  toe  of  Vishnu.     It  may 
be  mentioned  that  the  phial  is  often  seen  in  the  hands  of  other  pusas 
besides  Kuan-yin,  and  it  is  sometimes  carried  by  the  Buddha  Amitabha. 

*  See  pp.  103-9.  Poussin  observes  (  Hastings,  E.R.E.,  ii.  260) 
that  "already  at  Sanchi  the  ' lotus'  is  represented  in  the  hand 
of  a  great  many  personages  as  an  offering  intended  for  Buddha. 
Those  who  carry  lotuses  are  not  all  Avalokitas,  for  Maitreya 


286        PUTO-SHAN  AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA         [OH. 

with  the  willow  instead  of  the  lotus.  Perhaps  we 
may  find  an  explanation  in  the  fact  that  the  willow 
has  been  put  by  the  Chinese  to  various  magical 
uses,  and  is  regarded  with  special  favour  as  a  rain- 
charm.1  Water  which  has  been  merely  touched  by 
a  willow-branch  is  supposed  to  be  endowed  with 
miraculous  healing  properties.2  In  Buddhistic 
literature  religious  truth  is  often  poetically  referred 
to  as  a  reviving  rain  that  descends  upon  the 
parched  earth.  The  phrase  fa  yu — "the  rain  of 
the  Law  (of  Buddha)" — is  constantly  used  by 
religious  writers,  and  it  has  been  chosen,  as  we 
shall  see,  as  the  name  of  one  of  the  great 
monasteries  of  Puto.  Thus  to  the  worshipper  of 
Kuan-yin  it  is  a  very  natural  and  appropriate  thing 
that  the  divine  pusa,  who  brings  succour  to  the 
distressed  and  sheds  upon  them  the  dew  of 
immortal  bliss  (or  "  the  wine  of  the  sweet  dew  " 3), 
should  carry  in  her  hand  a  magic  willow,  with 
which  she  charms  down  from  heaven  the  "  Rain 
of  the  Good  Law." 4 

To  follow  the  symbolism   and  iconography  of 

is  among  them."  Possibly  Avalokitesvara  as  padmapdni  may  be 
connected  with  the  post-Vedic  Indian  goddess  Laksnri  or  £ri,,  the  wife 
of  Vishnu.  This  goddess  was  associated  with  the  sea,  from  which  she, 
like  Aphrodite,  is  said  to  have  arisen  ;  and  as  goddess  of  beauty  she 
is  also  associated  with  the  lotus  (see  H.  Jacobi,  in  Hastings,  op.  cit., 
ii.  808  ;  Of.  also  Kern,  S.B.E.,  xxi.  253,  footnote  2). 

1  Lion  and  Dragon  in  Northern  China,  pp.  187  and  346. 

2  Such  water  is  known  as  ' '  willow-water  "  (yang-chih-shui). 

3  Kan-lu-chiu. 

4  It  is  perhaps  not  impossible  that  Kuan-yin's  spray  was  originally 
not  that  of  a  willow  (Chinese  yang)  but  that  of  an  Indian  tooth-stick 
tree  (Chinese  ch'ik-mu),  which  seems  to  have  been  a  kind  of  acacia. 
OH   this  subject   see  Takakusu's  I-Tsing\s  Records,  p.   35 ;    Watters, 


XL]  ICONOGRAPHY  287 

the  cult  of  Kuan-yin  into  all  its  branches  would 
take  us  far  beyond  our  prescribed  limits.  We 
may  note,  however,  that  she  is  sometimes  described 
as  ch'ien-shou  ch'ien-yen  (the  "  pusa  of  a  thousand 
hands  and  a  thousand  eyes  "),  who  (to  quote  the 
words  of  a  hymn  often  recited  in  the  temples  of 
Puto)  is  "  ever  ferrying  the  souls  of  men  safely 
across  the  ocean  of  misery,  prayed  to  in  a 
thousand  places  and  in  a  thousand  places  respond 
ing  to  the  call."1  Tantric  Buddhism,  again,  has  a 
six-armed  Avalokitesvara  (perhaps  to  be  identified 
with  the  six  -  armed  Marichi)  whose  sculptured 
image  seems  to  have  been  worshipped  in  North 
western  India  in  the  eighth  century  of  our  era.2 
Sometimes  we  find  in  the  chapels  dedicated  to 

op.  tit.,  ii.  171  ;  and  Beal,  Records,  i.  68,,  ii.  173.  It  should 
be  mentioned  that  the  tamarisk  (tamarlv  chinensis,  L.)  has  also 
been  associated  with  Kuan-yin — indeed,  it  is  sometimes  known  as  the 
Kuan-yin  liu,  or  "  Willow  of  Kuan-yin."  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
a  vase  and  a  plant  sometimes  appear  in  the  paintings  of  Western 
artists  in  association  with  the  Virgin  and  the  angel  Gabriel  (see  Him, 
Sacred  Shrine  [1912],  pp.  281-2).  In  these  paintings  the  flower  has 
usually  been  a  lily ;  but  the  willow  has  also  been  applied  to  the 
purposes  of  Christian  symbolism  (see  Duchesiie,  Early  History  of  the 
Christian  Church  [Eng.  trans.,  1910],  i.  167-8).  This  passage  about 
the  willow  -  wand  which  decays  or  remains  green  in  accordance 
with  the  moral  state  of  its  owner  may  remind  us  of  the  belief  of  the 
Amidist  that  each  man  while  living  on  earth  is  represented  in  paradise 
by  a  lotus,  which  flourishes  or  languishes  according  to  his  spiritual 
condition  (see  above,  pp.  108-9). 

1^«if*^]t!i;:gflS'fiH£,®A* 

2  See  Vincent  A.  Smith,  op.  cit.,  p.  185.  For  other  references  to  or 
images  of  Kuan-yin  in  that  work,  see  pp.  189-90,  256-7,  308.  It  may 
be  unnecessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  frescoes  and  statues  of 
Avalokitesvara  which  have  been  found  in  Turkestan  by  Stein,  Le  Coq, 
and  others  are  not  only  of  characteristically  Indian,  Tibetan,  and  Chinese 
type,  but  also  (more  especially)  of  that  Grcuco-Indian  type  which  has  left 
an  indelible  impress  on  Asiatic  religious  art  from  Gandhfira  to  Japan. 


288        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

Kuan  -  yin's  worship  the  figures  of  what  appear 
to  be  thirty-two  different  deities ;  but  they  are 
all  manifestations  of  the  one  pusa  exercising  in 
different  capacities  her  various  functions  of  helper 
and  saviour.1  Sometimes,  too,  we  find  her  image 
associated  with  eight  different  kinds  of  danger  or 
suffering  the  (pa  nan)  from  which  she  is  engaged 
in  extricating  mankind;2  and  sometimes,  as  we 
know,  she  appears  as  co-ruler  with  Amitabha  and 
Mahasthamaprapta  (Ta-shih-chih),  over  SukhavatI, 
the  Western  Paradise,  although  it  is  correct  to 
regard  her,  when  acting  in  this  capacity,  not  as  the 
female  Kuan-yin,  but  as  the  male  Avalokitesvara 
of  the  scriptures  of  the  Pure  Land. 

An  epithet  of  Kuan-yin  which  is  frequently 
met  with  by  the  student  of  Chinese  Buddhist 
literature  is  Pai-i  Ta-shih  ("  The  Great  Teacher 
robed  in  white  ").  An  English  writer  has  ventured 
to  emphasize  this  epithet  as  one  of  several  indica 
tions  of  a  connection  between  the  Buddhists  and 
the  Essenes,  who  appear  to  have  been  known  as  a 
white-clothed  sect.3  The  theory  that  the  Essenes 

1  These  are  the  thirty-two  hsiang  or  "  transformations  "  (sui-chi- 
ying-hsieri)  of  Kuan-yin  referred  to  on  p.  276,  and  they  include  her 
appearances  as  a  female.     The  thirty-two  hsiang  are  all  mentioned  in 
thesutras  (see  B.N.  13-i  and  139).     Some  of  the  hsiang  (including  the 
female  ones,  as  already  stated)  are  wanting  in  B.N.  138  and  in  the  text 
used  by  Kern. 

2  Strictly  speaking,  these  are  eight  states  or  situations  in  which  it  is 
impossible  to  hear  the  Law  of  Buddha  (and  therefore  difficult  to  attain 

salvation).      /V*  *  *H  *  3  B  &  4fc  2  A   It 

3  Beal,  Buddhist  Literature  in  China,  1882,  xv.  xvi.  159-166.     A.  E. 
Suffriii  suggests  that  'E<r<rcuoi  is  an  ethnic  term,  equivalent  to  Essauites, 
or  Idumaeans,  or  at  least  a  clan  of  Idumsea.     He  is  strongly  of  opinion 
that  the  sect  was  non-Jewish,  though  on  the  Jewish  borderland. 


XL]  THE  DEA    SYRIA  289 

were  a  sect  of  Buddhists  has  not  commended  itself 
to  later  scholars,  though  many  have  admitted  that 
the  religion  and  philosophy  of  the  Essenes  may 
have  been  partly  derived  from  Oriental  (perhaps 
Persian)  sources.  As  for  the  white  robes,  they 
were  worn  not  only  by  Essenes,  but  also  by  the 
Therapeutas  in  Egypt  (assuming  that  they  existed 
outside  the  mind  of  the  author  of  the  De  Vita 
Contemplativa),  and  by  initiates  in  the  Orphic 
Mysteries.1 

But  if  it  be  unjustifiable  to  trace  any  connection 
between  Kuan-yin  and  the  Essenes,  it  is  perhaps 
permissible  to  suspect  Syrian  influences  of  another 
kind.  The  cult  of  the  Dea  Syria  was  carried,  as 
we  know,  to  the  extreme  west  of  Europe ;  but 
the  traders  of  Hierapolis  had  relations  with  the 
East  as  well  as  the  West,  and  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  supposing  that  some  knowledge  of  this  goddess 
reached  China  through  Persian  or  other  channels. 
We  may  readily  understand  that  the  cult  itself, 
with  its  orgiastic  revelries  and  barbarities,  could 
never  have  had  the  slightest  chance  of  winning 
support  in  a  land  which  had  already  submitted 
to  the  moral  sway  of  Confucianism.  Yet  it  will 
perhaps  be  conceded  that  in  some  respects  Kuan- 
yin  may  not  unfairly  be  regarded  as  a  refined 
and  moralized  Atargatis.2  We  know  that  this 

1  See  the  closing  lines  of  the  Cretans  of  Euripides. 

2  It  would  not  be  the  only  instance  of  the  adaptation  to  China  of 
deities  that  originally  belonged  to  the  West.     The  famous  Hsi-wang-mu 
("  the  Western  Queen-mother"),  who  occupies  a  prominent  place  in 

T 


290        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [OH. 

Syrian  goddess  was  believed  to  have  the  control 
of  "  sacred  life-giving  waters,"  l  —  a  fact  which 
recalls  Kuan  -  yin  with  her  vial  of  vivifying 
rain  or  dew.  But  more  significant  is  the  fact 
that  both  divinities  are  associated  with  fish. 
The  same,  indeed,  may  be  said  of  deities  who 
have  little  else  in  common  with  one  another 
— such  as  Orpheus  and  Vishnu  ;  and  it  is  also 
true  that  Buddhism  itself  makes  a  symbolic  use 
of  fish  quite  irrespectively  of  the  cult  of  Kuan- 
yin.2  It  must  be  admitted,  moreover,  that  no 
special  significance  necessarily  attaches  to  the  fact 
that  tanks  of  "  sacred  fish "  are  a  characteristic 
feature  of  all  properly-equipped  Buddhist  monas 
teries,  as  they  were  of  the  temples  of  Atargatis, 
for  it  is  usually  supposed  (whether  rightly  or 
wrongly)  that  the  fish  in  the  monastery  ponds 
were  never  regarded  as  "  sacred,"  but  are  merely 
supposed  to  serve  as  a  permanent  reminder  of  the 
strict  Buddhist  commandment  to  refrain  from  the 

the  fairy-lore  of  China,  has  recently  been  identified  (by  Prof.  H.  A. 
Giles)  with  the  goddess  Hera.  Is  it  not  possible,  too,  that  a  con 
nection  exists^  between  the  Mahayanist  Amitabha — who  is  not  only  the 
Wu-liang-kuang  (the  deity  of  ' '  Infinite  Light  or  Space  "),  but  also  the 
Wu-liany-sliou  (the  deity  of  "  Infinite  Age  or  Time  ") — and  the  Zrvdn 
dkarana,  or  "Endless  Time"  of  Mithraism? 

1  See  Dr  T.  K.  Cheyne,  in  Encycl.  Biblica  coll.  1530-1. 

2  Reference  need  only  be  made  to  the  mu-yil,  or  "  wooden  fish/' 
which  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  every  Buddhist  temple.     There 
are  three  supposed  characteristics  of  fishes  which  appear  to  have  led 
to  their  being  regarded  in  many  parts  of  the  world  as  sacred.     One  is 
their  quietness  :   they  are  the  ' '  silent  ones/'  even  as  the  gods — to 
mortal  ears — are  silent.      Another  is  their  wakefulness :    they  are 
believed  to   need  110  sleep.       The  third  is  their  fancied  perpetual 
virginity. 


XL]  KUAN- YIN   AS   A   FISH-GODDESS  291 

deliberate  slaughter  of  any  animal.1  But  unless 
we  adopt  the  hypothesis  of  some  actual  contact 
between  the  cults  of  Atargatis  and  Kuan-yin,  it 
is  difficult — when  we  remember  that  the  former 
was  partly  a  goddess  of  fishes — to  explain  why 
Kuan-yin  in  one  of  her  manifestations  should  also 
be  regarded  as  a  fish-goddess.  In  this  capacity  she 
is  known  in  Nepal  as  Matsyendranath,  or  "  Ruler 
of  Fishes  "  ;  and  in  China  she  is  described  as  Ao-yti 
Kuan-yin  ("  The  Kuan  -  yin  of  the  Big  Fish  "). 
Painters  of  the  T'ang  dynasty — if  not  those  of 
an  earlier  time — sometimes  represented  her  as 
carrying  a  fish  in  her  right  hand.  Certain  artists 
of  the  Sung  dynasty  gave  still  bolder  expression 
to  the  idea  of  Kuan-yin's  association  with  fishes 
by  clothing  her  in  the  garb  of  a  fisherman's 
daughter.  Occasionally,  indeed,  the  fish  notion 
was,  from  the  artistic  point  of  view,  over 
emphasized.  A  Western  critic,  who  assumes  that 
Kuan-yin's  fish  is  merely  "a  symbol  of  spiritual 
sustenance,"  complains  that  it  is  too  large,  too 
much  in  evidence.2 

If  there  is  any  justification  for  the  suggestion 
that  the  Syrian  fish-goddess  Atargatis,  long  ago 
expeUed  from  her  splendid  shrine  at  Hierapolis, 
still  carries  on  a  fragmentary  and  ghostly  existence 
in  the  person  of  the  "fisherman's  daughter"  of 

1  Hence  such  ponds  are  known  as  fang-sheng-cli'ih  ("life-sparing 
ponds ").     Fish  are  not  the  only  animals  whose  lives  are  thus  ostenta 
tiously  preserved.     Some  large  monasteries  take  charge  of  cattle  and 
pigs  as  well. 

2  See  Fenollosa,  Epochs  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  Art,  i.  133. 


292        PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [CH. 

Chinese  Buddhism,  we  need  not  be  surprised  to 
find  that  the  waters  surrounding  the  island  of 
Puto  are  theoretically  regarded  as  an  inviolable 
sanctuary  for  fishes,  and  that  disaster  is  supposed  to 
be  in  store  for  all  impious  fishermen  who  defy  the 
commands  of  the  Ao-yu  Kuan-yin  by  letting  down 
their  nets  in  those  holy  waters.  That  the  rule 
receives  no  official  support,  and  is  to-day  practi 
cally  a  dead  letter,  does  not  affect  the  significance 
of  the  religious  taboo. 

There  is  a  quaint  Chinese  legend  which 
associates  a  sudden  advance  in  the  popularity  of 
the  cult  of  Kuan-yin  with  a  miraculous  incident 
which  occurred  in  the  second  quarter  of  the 
ninth  century.  According  to  this  legend,  the 
emperor  Wen  Tsung,  of  the  T'ang  dynasty, 
who  reigned  from  827  to  840,  was  inordinately 
fond  of  oysters,  and  the  fisher-folk  were  obliged 
by  imperial  decree  to  furnish  the  palace  with 
enormous  and  regular  supplies  of  this  delicacy, 
for  which,  however,  no  payment  was  made  from 
the  imperial  exchequer.  One  day  the  emperor's 
eye  was  gladdened  by  the  sight  of  an  oyster-shell 
of  exceptionally  large  size,  and  his  Majesty 
anticipated  an  unusual  treat.  The  shell,  however, 
was  so  hard  that  all  efforts  to  break  it  proved 
unavailing ;  and  the  emperor  was  about  to  put 
it  aside  when  suddenly  it  opened  of  its  own 
accord,  and  disclosed  to  the  astonished  gaze  of 
the  court  a  miniature  image  of  the  pusa  Kuan-yin. 
The  awe-stricken  emperor  gave  orders  that  the 


XL]       EXTENSION  OF  CULT  OF  KUAN-YIN      293 

treasure  was  to  be  carefully  preserved  in  a  gold- 
inlaid  sandal- wood  box,  and  he  then  sent  for  a 
noted  Buddhist  monk  named  Wei  Cheng,  who 
knew  everything  that  was  worth  knowing  on 
the  subject  of  miracles,  in  order  to  obtain  an 
authoritative  explanation  of  the  prodigy. 

"  This  matter,"  explained  the  man  of  wisdom,  "  is 
not  devoid  of  significance.  Kuan-yin  is  the  pusa 
who  extends  love  and  compassion  to  all  living 
beings ;  and  the  pusa  has  chosen  this  means  of 
inclining  your  majesty's  mind  towards  benevolence 
and  clemency  and  filling  your  heart  with  pity 
for  your  oppressed  people." 

The  emperor,  concludes  the  chronicler,  took  the 
hint  in  good  part,  and  not  only  abolished  the  forced 
tribute  of  oysters,  but  issued  an  edict  to  the  effect 
that  an  image  of  Kuan-yiri  was  to  be  admitted  into 
every  Buddhist  temple  throughout  the  Empire.1 

Whether  we  believe  this  story  or  not,  it 
points  to  the  fact  that  a  great  extension  of  the 
cult  of  Kuan-yin  took  place  a  very  fewr  years 

1  It  seems  a  pity  to  throw  any  doubt  on  the  credibility  of  this 
story  as  it  stands,  but  in  the  interests  of  truth  the  reader's  attention 
must  be  drawn  to  a  prosaic  statement  which  occurs  in  Dr  Wells 
Williams's  description  of  the  shell-fish  and  insects  of  China.  ' '  In 
Chehkiang  the  natives  take  a  large  kind  of  clam  (Alasmodonta)  and 
gently  attach  leaden  images  of  Buddha  under  the  fish,,  after  which 
it  is  thrown  back  into  the  water.  Nacre  is  deposited  over  the  lead, 
and  after  a  few  months  the  shells  are  retaken,  cleaned,  and  then 
sent  abroad  to  sell  as  proofs  of  the  power  and  presence  of  Buddha  " 
(Middle  Kingdom,  i.  350-1).  In  view  of  these  facts  it  must  regretfully 
be  admitted  that  where  the  interests  of  religion  were  at  stake  the 
Chinese  monks  of  the  ninth  century  seem  to  have  shown  themselves  no 
more  scrupulous  than  their  European  contemporaries. 


294        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [OH. 

before  the  time  when  Puto-shan  began  to  be 
recognized  as  that  pusa's  principal  seat  of  worship 
in  China.  The  oyster-loving  emperor  died  in  840  ; 
the  Buddhist  history  of  Puto  opens  in  847.  In 
that  year,  according  to  the  annals  of  the  island, 
a  certain  Buddhist  ascetic  from  India  came  to 
Puto  and  worshipped  Kuan-yin  at  the  Ch'ao-yin 
Cave.  This  seems  to  show  that  Puto  must  have 
been  known,  even  at  that  early  date,  as  a  favourite 
haunt  of  Kuan-yin,  though  there  is  no  direct 
evidence  that  such  was  the  case.  According  to 
the  story,  the  Indian  pilgrim  attested  the  sincerity 
of  his  devotion  by  burning  all  his  ten  fingers, 
and  when  he  had  borne  this  horrible  torture 
without  flinching,  he  passed  into  a  state  of 
ecstatic  rapture,  in  which  he  not  only  saw  the 
form  of  the  glorious  Kuan-yin,  but  also  heard 
her  voice. 

If  the  pusa  were  true  to  her  functions  as  a 
"  Teacher  of  the  Good  Law,"  we  must  assume 
that  her  object  in  appearing  before  her  Indian 
worshipper  was  not  to  signify  her  approbation 
of  his  conduct,  but  rather  to  express  her  extreme 
displeasure.  Such  deeds  of  religious  fanaticism 
(records  of  which  are  painfully  frequent  in  the 
annals  of  other  religions  besides  Buddhism)  are 
totally  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Buddhist  faith,  and  are  contrary  to  the  express 
teachings  of  its  founder.  Gotama  himself,  like 
the  German  fourteenth  -  century  mystic  Henry 
Suso,  began  his  religious  career  by  subjecting 


XL]  BUDDHIST  AUSTERITIES  295 

himself  to  the  most  rigid  rules  of  a  cruel  asceticism. 
Like  Suso,  long  after  him,  he  made  the  discovery 
that  painful  bodily  austerities  were  not  the 
necessary  conditions  of  healthy  spiritual  progress, 
and  he  thereafter  followed  a  via  media  which  he 
never  ceased  to  recommend  to  his  disciples.1 
Unfortunately,  however,  owing  to  a  false  inter 
pretation  of  a  section  in  the  Lotus  of  the  Good 
Law,  it  came  to  be  believed  by  certain  Mahayanist 
schools,  among  which  the  T'ien-t'ai  school  was 
conspicuous,  that  there  was  scriptural  warrant, 
not  only  for  a  rigid  asceticism,  but  even  for  self- 
immolation  by  fire. 

It    is    a    significant    circumstance    that    the 

1  0.  Zockler  has  pointed  out  that  though  we  cannot  "  regard 
asceticism  as  an  element  of  the  religious  and  moral  life  belonging 
exclusively  to  the  essence  of  Christianity,  or  prescribed  in  its  original 
body  of  doctrine  as  necessary  to  salvation,,  the  ascetic  principle  early 
made  way  for  itself  in  the  development  of  the  Christian  Church." 
Mutatis  mutandis,  the  same  observation  may  be  made  concerning  the 
asceticism  which  we  find  associated  with  both  Islam  and  Buddhism. 
Mrs  Rhys  Davids  points  out  that  Buddhism  "claimed  at  its  very 
inception,  in  the  Buddha's  first  sermon,,  to  be  a  Middle  Path,  opposed 
equally  to  the  extremes  of  sensuous  and  worldly  indulgence  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  self-mortification  on  the  other.  .  .  .  But  in  the  sense 
of  the  Greek  askesis,  or  way  of  life,  in  which  some  channels  of  activity 
are  barred  and  others  developed  by  special  training,  Buddhism  was 
thoroughly  ascetic.  .  .  .  The  bodily  culture  of  the  Order  amounted 
very  much  to  what  would  now  be  called  '  the  simple  life.3  .  .  .  There 
does  not  appear,  in  the  canonical  books,  any  glorification  of  the 
intellectual  or  spiritual  at  the  expense  of  the  corporeal."  Similarly, 
J.  H.  Bateson  truly  observes  that  though  "the  constant  endeavour 
and  ultimate  hope  of  the  Buddhist  is  to  escape  from  corporeal 
existence,  Gotama  clearly  teaches  that  the  body  is  to  be  cared  for. 
Desire  for  the  pleasures,  and  the  formation  of  good  habits,  which 
minister  to  the  real  self,  are  inculcated  ;  and  pursuit  and  conduct 
which  contribute  to  this  end  are  to  be  cultivated"  (Hastings,  Encycl, 
Rel.  Ethics,  ii.  70-1,  74,  759). 


296        PUTO-SHAN  AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

worshipper  who  burned  his  ten  fingers  at  Kuan- 
yin's  Cave  is  described  as  a  native  of  India,  for 
it  was  largely  the  example  of  the  flesh-torturing 
sadhus  of  India  that  led  many  of  the  Buddhist 
monks  of  China  to  inflict  cruel  punishment  on 
the  body  for  its  proneness  to  rebel  against  the 
sovereignty  of  the  spirit.  Besides  being  opposed 
to  true  Buddhism,  such  proceedings  are  also  directly 
antagonistic  to  the  cardinal  Chinese  virtue  of  Hsiao 
("filial  piety"),  which  bids  men  maintain  their  bodies 
in  a  state  of  physical  health  and  fitness  in  order 
that  they  may  fulfil  all  their  duties  and  obligations 
both  to  their  parents  and  to  their  descendants. 

Yet  in  condemning  the  harsh  self-discipline  of 
the  ascetics  of  India  and  China  we  should  beware 
of  assuming,  as  the  "  plain  man  "  is  apt  to  assume, 
that    the    mortifications    of    the    flesh    which    a 
religious    enthusiast    inflicts   upon    himself   under 
the   influence  of  ecstasy  or  intense   emotion   are 
necessarily    the    cause    of    acute    physical   agony. 
There  is  abundance  of  evidence  to  show  that  in 
very  many  cases  there  is  no  suffering  whatever, 
all   the   pain  being  dissolved   in  the   flames  of  a 
rapturous  joy.     Thus  we   may   console   ourselves 
with  the  reflection  that  our  finger-burning  ascetic 
may   have    been    as    free    from   physical   pain   as 
was  Catherine  of  Siena  or  Bernadette  of  Lourdes, 
in  very  similar  circumstances.1 

Nowadays,  whether  as  a  result  of  a  slackening 

1  The  mystic  trance  appears  to  be  frequently  accompanied  by  a 
state  of  anaesthesia  (see  E.  Underbill,  Mysticism,  pp.  429  and  435). 


KUAN  -  YIN  PUSA. 

Drawn  in  blood  by  a  Hermit  of  Puto-shan. 

(M^lch  reduced  in  size, ) 


[Facing  /.  296. 


XL]  SUTRAS   WRITTEN   IN  BLOOD  297 

of  religious  zeal  or  from  some  more  meritorious 
cause,  it  is  comparatively  rarely  that  a  Buddhist 
monk  inflicts  physical  pain  or  injury  upon  himself. 
Few  submit  to  any  severer  discipline  than  that 
known  to  Christian  monks  as  inclusio — voluntary 
self-confinement  in  a  monastic  cell  for  a  term 
of  months  or  years.1  Others  withdraw  from  the 
fellowship  of  the  fraternity  to  which  they  belong, 
and  take  up  their  abode,  sometimes  under  a 
vow  of  silence,  in  solitary  hermitages.2  Several 
such  hermitages  exist  in  Puto  to  this  day.  There 
are  some  anchorites,  again,  who  maintain  a 
practice  which  has  been  very  wide -spread,  and 
seems  to  be  of  great  antiquity  in  China — that  of 
writing  sutras  or  drawing  sacred  pictures  with 
their  own  blood.3  The  only  act  of  bodily  morti 
fication  involving  acute  pain  which  is  practised 
by  ordinary  monks  is  associated  with  the  rites  of 

' '  Credible  witnesses  report  that  Bernadette,  the  visionary  of  Lourdes, 
held  the  flaming  end  of  a  candle  in  her  hand  for  fifteen  minutes  during 
one  of  her  ecstasies.  She  felt  no  pain,  neither  did  the  flesh  show 
any  marks  of  burning.  Similar  instances  of  ecstatic  anaesthesia 
abound  in  the  lives  of  the  saints."  With  regard  to  the  wilful  (c  creation 
of  pain-sensations  "  as  "  a  desperate  device  for  enhancing  the  intensity 
of  the  emotional  state,"  see  Hirn's  Origins  of  Art,  chap.  v. 

1  For  a  case  of  this  kind  at  Chiu-hua-shan,  see  above,  p.  242.     The 
similar  practices  of  Tibetan  anchorites  are  of  a  much  severer  type  than 
anything   of  the   kind   in   Buddhist   China   (tsee   Sven   Hedin,  Trans- 
Himalaya,  ii.  7  ff.}. 

2  Cf.  the  /ceXAtwrcu  of  the  Byzantine  East,  and  the  Laura  of  Western 
monasticism. 

3  In  such  cases  the  blood  is  usually  drawn  from  the  tongue.     A 
reproduction  (on  a  reduced  scale)  of  a  portrait  of  Kuan-yin,  drawn  in 
blood  by  an  anchorite  of  Puto  whose  name  is  Shou-ch'ing,  appears  in 
this  book.    The  technical  expression  for  writing  sutras  with  one's  blood 
is  tz'u  hsueh  shu  eking. 


298        PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

ordination.  This  is  the  process  known  as  jan- 
hsiang,  or  chiu-hsiang,  which  consists  in  the 
cauterization  of  the  scalp  with  burning  moxa- 
pastilles  made  from  the  artemisia  chinensis.1 
Strictly  speaking,  submission  to  this  painful  ordeal 
is  not  an  ascetic  act — that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  done 
with  the  object  of  chastening  the  body  in  the 
interests  of  the  spirit ;  it  is  a  symbolic  act,  whereby 
the  candidate  for  ordination  signifies  his  willing 
ness  to  walk  in  the  way  of  the  bodhisats,  even  to 
the  extent  of  sacrificing  his  body,  if  need  be,  for 
the  good  of  his  suffering  fellow- creatures. 

It  was  mentioned  that  the  place  where  the 
Indian  pilgrim  performed  his  act  of  devotion  and 
gazed  upon  the  divine  form  of  Kuan-yin  was  the 
Ch'ao-yin  Cave.  Since  that  time  the  pusa  is  said 
to  have  manifested  herself  to  the  eyes  of  her 
worshippers  on  many  different  occasions,  but  of 
the  three  "  caves  "  in  which  these  divine  manifesta 
tions  have  taken  place,  the  Ch'ao-yin  is  that  which 
has  been  most  frequently  hallowed  by  the  pusa's 
presence,  and  is  therefore  regarded  as  the  most 
sacred.2  It  is  visited  by  all  pilgrims,  and  all  go 
in  the  strong  hope  that  when  they  gaze  into  the 
cavern's  dark  recesses  they  will  be  favoured  with 
a  view  of  the  pusa  "  clothed  in  white  samite, 

1  For  full  description  of  the  ordination  ceremonies,  see  De  Greet, 
Le  Code  du  Mahdydna  en  Chine  (Amsterdam  :  1893).     The  jan-hsiang  is 
described  on  pp.  217  ff. 

2  The  other  two  are  the  Fan-yin  and  Shan-tsfai  caves,  which  are 
in  the  eastern  peninsula,  beyond  the  <(  Flying  Sands."     The  words  of 
the  annalist  with   regard   to   the   three  holy  places    are  as  follow  : 


xi.]  THE   SACRED    CAVE  299 

mystic,  wonderful."  l  Perhaps  those  who  are  strong 
in  faith  do  not  often  go  away  disappointed. 

As  a  cave  the  Ch'ao-yin-tung  is  disappointing, 
for  it  is  merely  a  perpendicular  rent  in  the  rocks 
by  the  sea-shore,  and  would  attract  no  particular 
attention  but  for  its  sacred  associations.  At  times 
the  tidal  waters  rush  into  it  with  resounding  roar 
and  dashing  spray,  and  the  waves,  says  a  monkish 
chronicler,  lash  the  cliff  walls  like  the  tossed  mane 
of  a  wild  animal.  If  the  critical  Western  enquirer 
insists  upon  extorting  a  prosaic  explanation  of  the 
ghostly  appearances  of  Kuan-yin,  he  may  perhaps 
find  one  in  the  fact  that  at  certain  times,  when 
atmospheric  and  tidal  conditions  are  favourable,  a 
shaft  of  sunlight  streams  into  the  cave  through 
a  gap  in  the  roof  called  the  t'ien-ch'uang,  or 
"  heaven's  window,"  and  strikes  athwart  the  flying 
foam.  The  cave  then  seems  to  be  filled  with  a 
tremulous  haze,  in  which  the  unbeliever  sees 
nothing  but  sunlit  spray,  but  which  to  the 
devout  worshipper  is  a  luminous  veil  through 
which  the  "Pusa  of  Love  and  Pity"  becomes 
visible  to  the  eyes  of  her  faithful  suppliants. 

Close  by  the  cave  stand  two  little  temples, 
the  Lohan-tien,  or  "  Hall  of  Arahants,"  and  the 
Ch'ao-yin-tung-tien,  or  "  Hall  of  the  Cave  of  the 
Tide-waves."  A  little  stone  image,  one  or  two 
empty  shrines  and  incense -jars,  an  iron  railing, 

1  The  author  may  as  well  confess  at  once  that  in  spite  of  many 
visits  to  the  cave  he  heard  or  saw  nothing  hut  the  wild  water  lapping 
oil  the  crag. 


300         PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [en. 

and  a  rock  bearing  the  inscription  Hsien-shen-ch'u, 
indicate  the  spot  from  which  the  visitor  is  invited 
to  gaze  into  the  so-called  cave.  This  spot  is 
known  as  the  Ch'iu-hsien-t'ai — the  terrace  whereon 
the  pilgrim  kneels  and  prays.  Here  may  also  be 
seen  a  sacred  well  or  pool  known  as  Kuang-ming 
("Lustrous  and  Bright"),  and  also  as  Hui-ch'uan 
or  "  Spring  of  Wisdom."  Miracles  of  healing  are 
said  to  have  been  wrought  by  the  waters  of  this 
well.1  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1266,  for  example, 
a  high  official  named  Fan  was  afflicted  with  blind 
ness,  and  sent  his  son  to  offer  up  prayers  on  his 
behalf  at  the  Cave  of  Kuan-yin.  The  son  carried 
out  his  father's  behest,  and  from  the  well  he 
brought  home  a  bottle  of  holy  water  with  which 
he  washed  the  blind  man's  eyes.  As  a  result 
Fan  recovered  his  eyesight,  and  he  then  ordered 
his  son  to  make  a  second  journey  to  Puto  to 
return  thanks.  In  front  of  the  holy  cave  the 
young  man  knelt  down  to  pray,  and  no  sooner 
had  he  finished  his  prayers  than  the  pusa  made 
her  appearance  below  "heaven's  window."  Her 
form,  we  are  told,  was  dimly  outlined  within  a 
cloud  of  shimmering  vapour,  and  a  scarf  of  jade- 
green  gauze  streamed  from  her  shoulders. 

1  It  is  curious  to  find  healing  wells  associated  with  a  sacred  cave  in 
the  extreme  west  of  the  Euro-Asiatic  continent  as  well  as  in  the 
extreme  east.  I  refer  to  the  wells  which  exist  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
holy  cave  of  St  Medan^  in  Luce  Bay^  Scotland.  It  has  been  "the 
immemorial  custom  of  the  peasantry — a  custom  not  wholly  obsolete  to 
day — to  bathe  in  these  wells  at  sunrise  on  the  first  Sunday  in  May,  for 
the  purpose  of  curing  themselves  of  various  diseases  "  (D.  MacRitchie_, 
in  E.R.E.,  iii,  268). 


XL]  A  STORY  OF  KUAN-YIN  301 

As  late  as  the  first  quarter  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  curative  properties  of  Kuan-yin's  well 
were  still  recognized  by  the  highest  personages  in 
the  land,  for  we  are  told  that  an  empress  of  the 
Ming  dynasty  sent  a  special  emissary  to  Puto  to 
offer  up  prayers  at  the  holy  cave  and  to  draw 
healing  waters  from  the  well.  Indeed,  it  was  in 
recognition  of  the  miraculous  cures  wrought  by 
the  waters  of  this  well  that  the  name  "  Lustrous 
and  Bright"  was  conferred  upon  it  by  imperial 
patent. 

It  is  not  only  amid  the  salt  spray  of  Puto's 
sea- caves  that  the  divine  Kuan-yin  has  made  her 
self  visible  to  men's  eyes,  nor  has  she  revealed 
herself  only  to  those  who  have  bent  the  knee 
before  her  sacred  image.  There  is  a  graceful  little 
tale  which  describes  the  wonderful  experience  of 
two  devout  women  who  were  in  the  habit  of 
going  on  pilgrimage  to  Puto  year  after  year. 
One  of  these  was  an  unmarried  girl,  the  other 
her  married  relative.  On  one  occasion  as  their 
boat  approached  the  island  the  girl  was  seized 
with  a  slight  sickness,  and  was  unable  to  go 
ashore.  She  therefore  remained  in  the  boat,  alone 
and  melancholy,  while  the  elder  woman  spent  the 
day  on  the  island  visiting  the  shrines  and  per 
forming  the  customary  rites  of  worship.  Her 
religious  duties,  unfortunately,  caused  her  to  forget 
the  needs  of  her  companion,  who  had  no  means 
of  providing  herself  with  food.  The  girl  became 
very  hungry  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  was 


302        PUTO-SHAN   AND    KUAN-YIN   PUSA         [CH. 

therefore  much  relieved  when  a  stately  lady,  carry 
ing  a  basket  of  food,  suddenly  appeared  on  the 
sea-shore.  The  boat  was  moored  some  distance 
off  the  shore,  but  the  strange  lady  made  a  little 
causeway  by  throwing  stepping-stones  into  the 
water,  and  by  this  means  she  reached  the  boat 
without  worse  misadventure  than  slightly  wetting 
the  edge  of  her  robe.  She  fed  the  girl  with 
delicious  food,  and  then,  without  having  spoken 
a  word,  returned  to  the  shore.  After  some  time 
the  elder  woman,  having  finished  her  devotions, 
returned  to  the  boat  and  expressed  a  fear  that 
the  girl  must  be  hungry.  "Not  at  all,"  was  the 
reply ;  "  I  was  fed  by  a  strange  lady."  So  saying 
she  pointed  to  a  remnant  of  the  food  which  still 
lay  on  the  deck.  Her  companion  on  hearing  the 
details  of  the  story  made  up  her  mind  that  the 
girl's  silent  hostess  must  have  been  a  divine  being, 
and  she  returned  to  the  principal  temple  to  give 
thanks.  Looking  up  reverently  at  the  stately 
image  of  Kuan-yin  seated  on  the  lotus  throne, 
she  noticed  that  the  hem  of  the  pusa's  robe  was 
glistening  with  water. 

It  may  be  pointed  out,  perhaps,  by  some  keen- 
eyed  critic  that  the  conclusion  of  this  little  story 
affords  conclusive  proof  that  the  Buddhists  of 
China,  whatever  they  may  be  in  theory,  are  in 
practice  mere  "idolaters."  He  may  assert  that 
in  spite  of  the  moral  elevation  and  philosophical 
profundity  of  many  Buddhist  doctrines,  the  religion 
as  actually  practised  by  the  people  of  China  has 


XL]  IDOLATRY  AND   SYMBOLISM 

come  to  be  little  more  than  a  systematized  image- 
worship.  This,  however,  is  scarcely  true.  Let 
us  beware  of  supposing,  when  we  watch  the 
people  burning  incense  before  the  great  gilded 
images  of  the  Buddhas  and  bodhisats,  that  all 
Chinese  Buddhists  are  mere  worshippers  of  stocks 
and  stones.  In  the  East,  as  in  the  West,  there 
are  many  people  who  are,  or  believe  themselves 
to  be,  incapable  of  dispensing  with  all  sensuous 
aids  to  the  religious  imagination,  and  who  find  in 
outward  signs  and  emblems  a  means  of  preserving 
undimmed  within  their  hearts  and  minds  the 
light  of  a  lofty  spiritual  ideal.  It  is  only  the 
most  ignorant  of  Buddhists,  as  it  is  only  the  most 
ignorant  of  Christians,  who  regard  the  images 
before  which  they  kneel  in  prayer  or  adoration 
as  the  real  and  ultimate  objects  of  their  pious 
devotion.  To  the  enlightened  Buddhist,  as  to 
the  enlightened  Catholic,  the  image  or  sacred 
picture  is  merely  a  symbol  of  divinity.  Christian 
and  Buddhist  are  both  well  aware  that  among  the 
untaught  and  unimaginative  masses  the  symbol 
is,  unfortunately,  apt  to  usurp  the  place  of 
the  thing  symbolized ;  and  yet  there  are  count 
less  earnest  adherents  of  the  one  faith  and  of 
the  other  who  would  feel  spiritually  impoverished 
if  the  symbol  were  withdrawn.1 

With  regard  to  this  question  of  "  idols,"  a 
touching  story  is  told  by  a  Japanese  Buddhist 
priest,  Tada  Kanai,  who  has  published  a  little 

1  See  above,  pp.  189-90. 


304        PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN- YIN  PUSA         [CH. 

volume  of  sermons  which  would  not  discredit  any 
Western  pulpit.1 

During  a  period  of  political  unrest  in  Japan  a 
number  of  young  men  of  knightly  rank — samurai 
—  were  imprisoned  on  a  charge  of  participation 
in  a  revolutionary  disturbance.  All  the  prisoners, 
with  one  exception,  were  filled  with  fierce  anger 
and  resentment  against  their  jailors,  and  even 
went  so  far  as  to  assault  the  official  who  brought 
them  their  daily  food.  The  exception  was  a  mere 
child,  a  boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age, 
whose  patience  under  suffering  and  quiet  dignity 
of  bearing  won  him  the  sympathy  and  goodwill 
of  his  jailors  and  fellow  -  prisoners  alike.  The 
authorities  noticed  that  their  boy- prisoner  pos 
sessed  two  little  lay  figures,  which  at  first  were 
supposed  to  be  only  dolls,  and  they  wondered 
at  a  high  -  spirited  boy  caring  for  such  childish 
things ;  but  careful  observation  revealed  the  fact 
that  he  treated  them  not  as  toys,  but  as  objects  of 
respect  and  reverence.  Every  morning  he  would 
set  them  up  before  him  and  greet  them  as  if 
they  were  living  beings.  "  Good  morning,  father, 
good  morning,  mother !  "  he  would  say  ;  and  when 
dinner-time  time  came  he  would  always  place  the 
tray  in  front  of  them  and  go  through  a  form  of 
reverent  salutation  before  he  began  to  ply  his 
chopsticks.  He  treated  the  dolls,  in  fact,  as  a 
dutiful  and  respectful  son  (in  Old  Japan  or  in 

1  The  book  is  named  Shodo  Kowa  $j£  xll  wt  U  and  has  been 
translated  into  English  by  the  late  Rev.  Arthur  Lloyd  under  the  title 
The  Praises  of  Amida  (Tokyo  :  1907). 


XL]  FILIAL  PIETY  305 

Old  China)  would  treat  his  living  parents ;  and 
his  jailors  gradually  came  to  realize  that  the  toy 
figures  were  largely  responsible  for  the  child's 
grace  of  manner  and  sweetness  of  disposition. 
The  hardships  of  the  jail  failed  to  embitter  his 
temper,  for  to  him  it  was  no  jail,  but  rather  a 
beautiful  temple  or — something  yet  more  sacred — 
a  home.  To  him,  in  very  truth,  stone  walls  were 
no  prison,  iron  bars  no  cage ;  for  he  was  free  to 
hold  spiritual  communion,  through  the  medium 
of  his  little  images,  with  those  whom  he  loved 
and  honoured  above  all  others,  and  he  wanted  no 
greater  freedom  than  that. 

Our  Japanese  preacher  is  not  content  with 
emphasizing  the  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  this 
little  story  in  respect  of  the  virtue  of  filial  piety 
—a  virtue  which,  by  the  way,  seems  likely  to 
lose  its  hold  in  both  Japan  and  China  in  indirect 
consequence  of  the  substitution  of  Western  for 
Eastern  ideals  in  social  and  political  life.  He 
goes  on  to  remind  us  that  human  life  itself  is  a 
prison  into  which  we  have  all  been  cast  as  fettered 
captives.1  Passion  and  ambition,  ignorance  and 
vanity,  indolence  and  selfishness,  all  the  limitations 
and  weaknesses  of  our  physical  and  moral  natures 
—  these  are  the  chains  with  which  we  are  fast 

1  Our  Japanese  Buddhist  would  accept  the  Orphic  and  Pythagorean 
notion  that  the  hody  is  a  prison  arid  the  soul  a  prisoner.  Of.  Plato, 
Phado,  81-4,  and  Gorgias,  493.  (rb  tfv  <rQ>^d  tvriv  ^HMV  o-^ua.)  Cf.  also 
the  well-known  words  in  Romans  vii.  24 :  "  O  wretched  man  that  I 
am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  "  Cf.  Matthew 
Arnold,  ff  For  most  men  in  a  brazen  prison  live,"  etc. 

U 


PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN  PUSA        [CH. 

manacled  throughout  the  whole  term  of  our  im 
prisonment,    a    term    which    lasts    from    birth    to 
death.     We,  too,  have  dolls  that  we  play  with, 
idols  that  we  worship.     Let  us  not  be  ashamed 
of  our  idolatries,  provided  only  that   these  idols 
of  ours  stand  as  symbols  of  something  true  and 
beautiful    outside    our    prison    walls.      The    boy- 
prisoner  of  Japan  used   his   idols  as  a  means  of 
communion   with   his    loved    ones    who   were   far 
away :    and  they  gave  his  spirit  wings.     Some  of 
us  have  idols  of  a  baser  kind,  idols  that  hypnotize 
our  faculties  and  teach  us  to  hug  our  chains,  so 
that  the   music  of  the   spheres  grows  faint,  and 
the  range  of  our  spiritual  vision  is  restricted  to 
the  boundaries  of  our  dungeon.      The  spirit  will 
beat  against  her  mortal  bars  in  vain  if  our  idols 
are  such  as  these. 

There    is    a    curiously    prevalent    impression 

among  Europeans  that  the  "idolatries"  practised 

in   Buddhist   China   are   quite   incompatible   with 

anything  like  prayer  in  the  Christian  sense,  and 

that  the  whole  of  the   liturgical   worship  of  the 

Buddhist    temples    is    a    meaningless    mummery, 

chiefly  consisting  in  the  recitation  of  transliterated 

Sanskrit    texts    and    formulas    which    are    totally 

devoid  of  meaning  even  to  the  officiating  priests. 

Such   notions   as   these   are   a   survival   from   the 

bad  old  days  when  it  was  considered  a  proof  of 

Christian   zeal    to   heap   contempt   and   abuse   on 

the  faiths  of  all  non- Christian  peoples ;   but  they 

are  notions  which  no  person  who  can  read  Chinese 


XL]          USE   OF  PRAYER   IN    BUDDHISM  307 

is  likely  to  entertain  for  a  moment  after  he  has 
glanced  at  some  of  the  pages  of  the  prayer-books 
which  are  in  daily  use  in  the  great  monasteries. 
Such  compilations  as  the  favourite  Ch'an-men-jih- 
sung l  include  prayers  for  use  by  both  monks  and 
laymen  in  connection  with  all  such  circumstances 
of  daily  life  as  can  be  brought  into  relationship 
with  religious  observance.2  There  are,  of  course, 
prayers  for  use  on  saints'  days — that  is,  on  the 
days  specially  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  the 
great  pusas.  There  are  burial  services  for  monks 
and  laymen,  services  for  the  ordination  of  monks, 
services  in  commemoration  of  pious  founders  and 
benefactors  and  "spiritual  ancestors."  There  are 
prayers  for  use  before  and  after  child-birth,  prayers 
for  fair  weather,  for  rain,  for  deliverance  from 
plague  and  famine,  for  the  divine  guidance  of 
rulers  and  magistrates.  There  are  prayers  to  be 
used  before  taking  food,  prayers  for  those  in 
danger  or  difficulty,  prayers  for  those  at  sea, 
prayers  expressing  repentance  for  sin,  prayers  for 
the  sick  and  dying.  Such  books  also  contain 
many  superstitious  survivals,  such  as  sacred  words 
and  charms  which  are  supposed  to  have  a  con 
trolling  power  over  the  forces  of  nature,  and  there 
are  prayers  for  purely  material  benefits,  such  as 
wealth  and  worldly  prosperity,  and  rituals  which 
correspond  more  or  less  closely  with  Christian 
masses  for  the  dead. 

1  "  Prayers  of  the  Ch'an  (Jhana)  School  for  daily  recitation." 

2  Another  popular  compilation  is  the  Ch(an-lin-shu-yil  or  (ft  Prayers 
of  the  Jhana  Grove  "). 


308        PUTO-SHAN   AND   KUAN-YIN  PUSA         [CH. 

To  the  non-Buddhist,  perhaps  a  more  interesting 
feature  of  these  religious  miscellanies  is  the  large 
section  which  is  devoted  to  selected  "  sermonettes  " 
or  homilies  by  distinguished  leaders  of  religious 
thought.  These  as  a  rule  consist  of  moral  exhorta 
tions  which,  though  based  on  Buddhist  ethics,  are 
so  free  from  credal  or  dogmatic  assumptions  that 
they  might  almost  be  regarded  as  the  utterances 
of  free-thinking  moralists — and,  indeed,  rightly  so, 
for  Buddhism  is  perhaps  the  only  great  religious 
system  which,  if  it  does  not  actually  welcome  and 
encourage  the  free  thinker,  sees  no  reason  to  make 
provision  for  his  excommunication.  Expulsion 
from  the  monkhood  is,  indeed,  not  unknown ;  but 
the  punishment  is  inflicted,  not  for  free  thought 
or  "infidelity,"  but  merely  for  offences  against 
morals  or  discipline.  The  fate  of  those  who,  if 
no  longer  subjected  to  physical  torture,  are  still 
driven  unwillingly  from  the  fold  of  the  Christian 
Church  would  be  unthinkable  in  Buddhism.1  The 
Buddhist  monk  at  ordination  binds  himself  to  no 
Articles  and  to  no  formulated  Creed,  and  he  is 
perfectly  at  liberty  to  use  his  own  judgment  in 
interpreting  the  sacred  books  and  traditional 
doctrines  of  his  school,  though  so  long  as  he 
chooses  to  remain  in  the  monkhood  he  must, 
of  course,  conform  with  all  the  disciplinary 


1  Modernist  movements  in  Buddhism  give  rise  to  no  acute  "crises  " 
in  the  Buddhist  Church  :  partly  because  no  one  is  in  a  position  to  make 
infallible  pronouncements  as  to  what  constitutes  orthodoxy.  We  can 
hardly  describe  the  Three  Refuges  as  a  Creed  in  the  Western  sense. 


XL]         PRAYERS   OF  THE   JHANA   SCHOOL       309 

regulations  in  force  in  the  monastery  to  which  he 
belongs.1 

The  edition  of  the  Prayers  of  the  Jhdna  School 
which  is  in  use  in  the  monasteries  of  Puto  contains, 
as  might  be  expected,  numerous  prayers  addressed 
to  or  associated  with  Kuan-yin.  As  an  example 
of  these  we  may  cite  a  prayer  which  was  composed 
by  a  monk  who  bore  the  monastic  name  of  "  Fruit 
of  Great  Wisdom."  2 

Ignoring  the  popular  notion  of  Kuan-yin's 
womanhood,  he  addresses  the  pusa  as  "com 
passionate  Father  of  the  whole  universe," 3  to 
whom  he  offers  praise  for  the  boundless  love  and 
pity  vouchsafed  to  all  living  beings,  and  for  his 
ceaseless  efforts  to  bring  the  world  to  salvation. 
The  suppliant  announces  that  he  has  come,  cleansed 
in  body  and  mind,4  to  prostrate  himself  before  the 
pusa  and  to  implore  his  help  and  protection.  He 
continues  as  follows  :— 

"  I  am  indeed  filled  with  thankfulness  that  it 
has  been  granted  to  me  to  know  the  Buddha's  way 

1  So  far  as  its  attitude  towards  dogma  is  concerned,  the  Protestantism 
of  Auguste   Sabatier  and   his   followers  has   much  in  common  with 
Buddhism.     ' '  It  is  quite  time  to  let  even  dogma  decay,  in  so  far  as 
it  is  an  object  of  obligatory  belief.     Faith  must  be  regarded  as  the 
religious  element  par  excellence.     Wheresoever  faith  exists,  there  is 
religion.     What  is  called  dogma  is  merely  a  symbolical  interpretation 
—always  inadequate  and  always  modifiable — of  the  ineffable  data  of 
the  religious  consciousness.     All   religious   knowledge  is  necessarily 
and  purely  symbolical,  seeing  that  mystery  (as  the  word  implies)  can 
only  be  expressed  through  symbols  "  (Boutroux,  Science  and  Religion, 
Eng.  trans.,  1909,  p.  226). 

2  Ta-hui-lcuo. 


310         PUTO-SHAN   AND  KUAN-YIN   PUSA        [OH. 

of  salvation  ;  1  but  although  I  am  a  monk  and 
have  abandoned  the  world,  I  am  bitterly  conscious 
that  my  heart  is  not  yet  penetrated  with  the  truth.2 
I  am  sorely  lacking  in  true  knowledge,  and  have 
many  vain  thoughts  and  wrong  opinions.  I  am 
deficient  in  the  moral  force  necessary  for  spiritual 
advancement.  I  study  the  scriptures  with  diligence, 
and  yet  I  am  incapable  of  fully  understanding  and 
assimilating  their  holy  wisdom.  I  fear  that  few 
blessings  are  in  store  for  me,  that  my  life  is  destined 
to  be  cut  short,3  and  that  I  have  devoted  myself 
all  in  vain  to  the  religious  life.4  I  have  wasted  my 
days,  and  dare  hope  for  nothing  but  a  spendthrift's 
death.5  Behold,  in  my  longing  to  purify  this  heart 
of  mine,  I  am  shedding  tears  of  anguish.  In 
reverence  and  humiliation  I  kneel  before  Thee  : 
day  and  night  my  thoughts  dwell  on  Thy  holy 
countenance.  I  hold  fast  to  Thy  holy  name,  and 
prostrate  myself  before  Thy  sacred  image.6  Incline 
Thy  heavenly  ear,  O  Pusa,  to  hearken  unto  me  ; 
of  Thy  divine  love  save  me  from  misery  ;  grant 


2  If  the  suppliant  is  a  layman,  in  place  of  the  sentence  beginning 
(<  but  although  I  am  a  monk,"  he  may  use  the  following  words  :  '  '  I 
am  still  immersed  in  the  ocean  of  worldly  life,  and  my  mind  is  confused 
and  distracted." 

3  The  Buddhist  prays  for  a  long  life  so  that  he  may  have  time  for 
the  fullest  spiritual  development  of  which  his  nature  is  capable.     The 
common  Western  view  that  the  consistent  Buddhist  longs,  or  should 
long,  for  a  speedy  death  or  annihilation  is  quite  a  mistaken  one. 

4  Instead  of  this  sentence  the  layman  says  :    c  '  I  fear  that  I   am 
making  an  unprofitable  use  of  my  privileges  as  a  man"  (literally,  "I 
have  obtained  a  man's  body  in  vain  "). 

5  That  is,  I  shall  have  squandered  all  my  powers  and  talents,  and 
shall  have  accumulated  no  store  of  good  karma  with  which  to  face  the 
life  that  is  to  come. 


•  a  s 


KUAN-YIN,    "THE   COMPASSIONATE  FATHER.' 


{facing  p.  3ic 


XL]  A   BUDDHIST  PRAYER  311 

me  Thy  pity  and  Thy  protection  ;  let  Thy  spiritual 
light  shine  upon  my  body  and  illumine  my  heart. 
Baptize  me  with  Thy  sweet  dew,1  so  that  it  may 
wash  away  all  stains  of  hatred  and  ill-will,  cleanse 
me  from  all  sin  and  foulness,  and  make  me  pure 
in  thought  and  deed.     Guard  me  both  day  and 
night  from  all  evil.     Be  ever  with  me,  O  Pusa, 
when   I   wake   and   when   I    sleep.       Grant   that 
my  understanding  may  awaken  under  the  rays  of 
Thy  glory.     Grant  that  I  may  increase  in  spiritual 
intelligence  and  discernment.     Grant  that  when  I 
read  the  scriptures  the  words  may  remain  stored 
in  my  memory,  and  that  when  the  sacred  truths 
are  expounded  I  may  have  wisdom  to  understand 
them.     May  I  be  endowed  with  good  judgment 
and  insight ;  may  my  days  be  long  ;  may  I  attain 
happiness  and  peace ;   may  I  ever  be  absorbed  in 
the  contemplation  of  Thy  truth ;  may  evil  spirits 
keep   far   from    me ;    may   I    awaken    to   a   clear 
perception  of  the  futility  of  living  through  genera 
tion  after   generation  without  spiritual   progress ; 
may  I  walk  in  the  way  of  the  pusas ;  may  I  show 
gratitude  for  all  mercies  ;  may  I  put  my  trust  in 
the  Buddha,  the  Law,  and  the  company  of  the 
saints ;   and  wherever  the  Law  holds  sway,  may 
all  living  beings  attain  union  in  the  perfect  wisdom 
that  leads  to  the  peace  of  Buddhahood." 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   MONASTIC    HISTORY    OF    PUTO-SHAN 

As  Kuan-yin's  holy  island  contains  nearly  a  hundred 
monasteries  and  temples,  exclusive  of  a  still  larger 
number  of  solitary  hermitages,  it  is  obvious  that 
a  full  description  and  historical  account  of  Puto- 
shan  could  not  be  compressed  into  the  space  of 
a  few  short  chapters.  In  these  pages  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  little  more  than  a  general 
survey  of  the  two  principal  monasteries.  These  are 
the  P'u-chi,  commonly  known  as  the  Ch'ien-ssu,  or 
"  Southern  Monastery,"  and  the  Fa-yu,  commonly 
known  as  the  Hou-ssu  or  "  Northern  Monastery." 
As  this  book,  however,  may  find  its  way  into  the 
hands  of  European  visitors  to  the  island,  it  may 
not  be  out  of  place  to  give  some  brief  description 
of  its  topography. 

For  purposes  of  study  and  exploration  the 
island  may  be  regarded  as  divided  into  five 
imaginary  sections.  The  first  section  will  include 
all  the  south-western  part,  beginning  with  the 
landing-place.  In  this  section  there  are  about 
seventeen  temples,  including  the  interesting  Kuan- 

yin-tung    (with    a    cave,    as    its    name    denotes, 

312 


OH.  xil.]  THE   DIAMOND   ROCK  313 

dedicated  to  the  pusa),  and  the  still  more  in 
teresting  Ling  -  skih  -  ch'an  -  lin  (the  "  Meditation 
Grove  of  the  Spiritual  Rock  ").  This  is  the  famous 
P'an-t'o  (the  "Huge  Rock"),  as  it  styles  itself 
in  deeply  carved  characters.  Next  to  the  Ch'ao- 
yin  Cave,  described  in  the  last  chapter,  this  is 
the  holiest  spot  on  the  island.  Just  as  the  whole 
of  Puto  is  the  Chinese  duplicate  of  the  sacred 
Potalaka  mentioned  in  the  Hua-yen  sutra  as  the 
home  of  Kuan-yin,1  so  the  P'an-t'o  Rock  is  the 
counterpart  of  the  Chin-kang-pao-shih  (the  "  Holy 
Diamond  Rock"),^  on  which,  according  to  that 
sutra,  Kuan-yin  sat  enthroned  when  she  (or  he) 
was  visited  by  the  angelic  Shan-ts'ai.3  The  boulder 
is  covered  with  various  inscriptions,  among  which 
we  find  "  the  Western  Heaven,"  "  I  take  my 
refuge  in  Amitabha  Buddha,"  "the  place  where 
the  Great  Teacher  preached  the  Law,"  "the  Eternal 
Buddha,"  "the  world's  most  famous  rock,"  "the 
holy  rock  which  guards  the  State."  4  On  the  flat 
top  of  the  boulder,  which  is  reached  by  means  of  a 
wooden  ladder,  contemplative  monks  may  often 
be  seen  sitting  in  reverie.  This,  in  fact,  is  a 
favourite  spot  for  the  practice  of  ch'an-na  (jhana) 
—  deep  religious  meditation.  There  is  another 
rock  close  by  known  as  the  "  Pulpit  of  Kuan-yin,"  5 

1  See  p.  270. 


2 


3c  T  II  - 

5  K  if 


814     MONASTIC  HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

but  in  spite  of  its  superior  position  (for  it  com 
mands  a  fine  view  of  the  west)  it  cannot  compete 
with  the  "  Diamond  Rock "  in  fame  or  sanctity. 

Another  temple  in  this  section,  the  Mei  Fu 
Ch'an-yiian,1  is  worth  a  visit  on  account  of  the 
curious  black-bearded  and  emaciated  figures  which 
are  understood  to  represent  Sakyamuni,  Wen- 
shu,  and  P'u-hsien.  The  P'u-chi-an  also  deserves 
a  visit  for  the  sake  of  its  magnificent  camphor- 
tree,  and  the  Yin-hsiu  temple  on  account  of  its 
secluded  situation.  At  one  time  the  printing- 
blocks  of  the  island  Chronicle  and  other  literary 
valuables  were  stored  in  the  Yin-hsiu  for  safety. 
Its  sequestered  position  saved  it  more  than  once 
from  the  attentions  of  piratical  visitors. 

The  second  of  the  five  sections,  with  about 
twenty-five  temples,  contains  not  only  the  Ch'ao- 
yin  Cave,  the  T'ai-tzu  Pagoda,  the  Fa-hua  grottoes, 
the  Ch'ao-yang  Cave,  but  also,  and  above  all,  the 
great  "Southern  Monastery"  -the  P'u-chi-ssu. 
Near  the  Pagoda  is  a  new  boys'  school,  supported 
by  the  monks  of  Puto  out  of  their  endowments. 
The  third  section,  with  about  twenty-three  temples, 
includes  the  Hui-chi  Monastery  on  the  summit  of 
the  island  ("  Buddha's  Peak  ").  The  fourth  section, 
with  nine  temples,  includes  the  finest  and  most 
beautiful  religious  house  on  the  island  —  the 
"  Northern  "  or  Fa-yii  Monastery.  To  this  section 
also  belong  the  secluded  little  hermitage  occupied 
by  the  monk  K'ai-ming ;  the  remarkable  bank 

1  For  a  reference  to  Mei  Fu;  see  p.  266. 


XIL]  RELICS   OF   BUDDHA  315 

of  sand  (Fei-sha)  which  slopes  to  the  sea  like  a 
glacier ; l  the  Hsiang-liui  Temple,  which  contains, 
among  other  objects  of  interest,  an  image  of  the 
patriarch  Bodhidharma  (Tamo) ; 2  and  the  Fan- 
yin  Cave,  which,  though  only  a  fissure  in  the 
sea -cliff,  and  therefore  similar  in  appearance 
to  the  Ch'ao  -  yin  Cave,  is  a  place  of  wide 
celebrity. 

According  to  the  island-records,  the  Fan-yin 
Cave,  like  the  Ch'ao-yin,  was  visited  by  a  dis 
tinguished  pilgrim  from  India,  though  at  a  much 
later  date.  In  1626  of  our  era  this  pilgrim,  who 
came  from  Benares,  is  said  to  have  deposited  here 
certain  relics,  which  he  asserted  were  relics  of 
Sakyamurii  Buddha.  They  were  placed  in  a 
casket  and  reverently  enshrined ;  and  when  in 
future  years  they  were  brought  out  for  the  in 
spection  of  the  faithful,  it  was  discovered  that 
they  did  not  always  present  the  same  appearance 
to  different  people.  Persons  of  inferior  character 
saw  nothing  but  a  black  object ;  those  of  higher 
moral  standing  saw  a  white  object ;  to  those  of 
moderately  good  character  the  relics  assumed  a 
red  appearance ;  and  saintly  people  saw  the  figure 
of  Buddha.3 

1  It  is  said  that  in  former  days  (and  as  late  as  the  Ming  dynasty) 
there  was  deep  water  in  the  place  now  occupied  by  the  Fei-sha,  and  that 
the  eastern  peninsula  was  therefore  an  island.     Probably  the  great  sand 
embankment  was  created  by  the  action  of  the  ocean  currents,  which 
are  known  to  be  swift  and  dangerous  in  this  locality. 

2  See  pp.  83-6. 

3  The  idea  that  the  relics  of  Buddhas  and  pusas  can  be  used  as  a  test 
of  the  moral  character  of  the  person  who  inspects  them  is  a  fairly 


316     MONASTIC  HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN         [CH. 

The  fifth  and  last  section  of  the  island  consists 
chiefly  of  lonely  hills.  It  contains  only  two  or 
three  little  temples,  of  which  the  most  picturesque 
is  the  Hsiao-shan-tung  ("Little  Hill  Cave"),  on 
a  rocky  promontory  which  at  high  tide  becomes 
an  island. 

The  total  number  of  resident  monks  in  Puto  is 
well  over  a  thousand,  the  majority  of  whom  reside 
in  the  "  Southern  "  and  "  Northern  "  monasteries. 
This  number  is  greatly  swelled  for  a  few  days 
during  the  second  month  of  the  old  Chinese 
calendar,  for  the  nineteenth  day  of  that  month 
is  regarded  as  the  birthday  of  Kuan-yin,  and  the 
occasion  is  celebrated  by  stately  services,  which 
are  attended  not  only  by  the  monks  in  permanent 
residence,  but  also  by  crowds  of  pilgrims  (monks 
and  laymen)  from  all  parts  of  China,  and  by 
numerous  candidates  for  ordination.  It  is  at 
this  time  that  the  annual  ordination  ceremony 
is  performed,  and  the  rites  are  conducted  by  the 
"Northern"  and  " Southern"  monasteries  in  alternate 
years.  In  1913  the  ceremony  took  place  at  the 
"  Southern  Monastery  "  ;  in  1914  it  will  be  the  turn 
of  the  "  Northern."  The  candidates  —  who  come 

common  one  in  China.  The  relics  of  the  Fan-yin  Cave  seem  to  have 
lost  their  fame  in  this  respect,  if,  indeed,  they  are  still  in  existence  ;  but 
similar  relics  are  still  to  he  seen  in  the  well-kno\vn  monastery  of  Ayii- 
wang  (Asoka)  near  Ningpo.  Each  visitor  who  wishes  to  behold  the 
sacred  object  kneels  in  a  little  courtyard  in  front  of  the  shrine  and  takes 
the  relic-casket  into  his  hands.  He  is  then  asked  to  look  inside  and  to 
report  what  he  sees.  The  author  regrets  to  say  that  what  he  saw  was 
neither  red  nor  white,  nor  was  it  the  figure  of  Buddha.  He  ventures 
to  question  the  reliability  of  the  test. 


XIL]  BUDDHIST   ORDINATION  317 

from  various  parts  of  central  China  —  vary  in 
number  from  one  hundred  to  three.  After  ordina 
tion  each  young  monk  sets  out  for  the  monastery 
which  he  has  selected,  or  which  has  been  selected 
for  him,  as  his  permanent  abode. 

The  rites  of  ordination  are  of  an  elaborate 
nature,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
Buddhist  monks  are  not  compelled  or  expected 
to  take  perpetual  vows.  The  Buddhist  monk  in 
China — as  in  all  Buddhist  lands — is  free  to  return 
to  the  world  when  he  chooses.1  For  this  reason 
the  annals  of  Buddhism  contain  no  such  pitiful 
stories  as  those  which  we  sometimes  meet  with 
in  the  annals  of  monastic  Christendom — stories 
from  which  we  obtain  fitful  glimpses  of  the 
sufferings  endured  by  those  to  whom  the  convent 
walls  had  become  the  walls  of  a  loathed  dungeon. 
The  monasteries  and  nunneries  of  Buddhism  have 
never  been  prisons.  The  letter  written  by  the 
saintly  but  pitiless  Anselm  of  Canterbury  to  a 
lady  of  noble  birth  who  had  fled  back  to  the 
world  from  her  hated  nunnery  has  no  counterpart 
in  the  literature  of  Buddhism.2 


1  As  Mrs  Rhys  Davids  has  observed  (Psalms  of  the  Sisters,  1909, 
p.  xxxiii.),  "  in  Buddhist  hagiology  there  is  no  premium  placed  on  the 
state  of  virginity  as  such.     The  Founder  himself  was  a  husband  and 
father,,  and  the  most  eminent  sisters   were,  three  -  fourths  of  them, 
matrons,  not  virgins." 

2  "  A  spouse  of  God,  a  virgin,  thou  wert  chosen  ;   and  set  apart 
to  wear  the  dress  and  live  the  life  devoted  to  God.     What  can  I  say 
thou  art  now,  my  daughter  ?     God  knoweth.  .  .   .  For  it  is  impossible 
for  thee  by  any  means  to  be  saved,  unless  thou  shalt  return  to  thy 
rejected   habit    and    thy   vow.   .   .  .    Think,    and    let   thine   heart   be 
shattered  to  pieces,   sorrow  vehemently  over  thy  fall.     Cast  aside 


318     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF   PUTO-SHAN       [CH 

A  Buddhist  monk  is  of  course  obliged,  so 
long  as  he  remains  a  monk,  to  act  in  strict 
conformity  with  the  vows  taken  at  ordination. 
He  must  obey  the  "  commandments  "  (which  are 
practically  identical  with  the  commandments  con 
tained  in  every  sound  moral  code),  he  must  be 
strictly  chaste,  and  he  must  confine  himself  to 
a  vegetarian  diet.  Flesh  food  is  interdicted  to 
Buddhist  monks,  just  as  it  was  interdicted  by  the 
Regula  Benedicti  of  Christian  monasticism.  In 
the  great  monasteries  the  abbot's  word  is  law, 
and,  indeed,  in  many  cases  he  is  legally  invested 
with  the  power  of  inflicting  corporal  and  other 
punishment.  But  if  the  rule  of  a  Buddhist  abbot 
is  a  despotism,  it  is  nearly  always  a  benevolent 
one.  We  never  hear  of  Buddhist  ecclesiastics 
exercising  their  disciplinary  powers  in  a  tyrannical 
manner.  No  Chinese  emperor  ever  had  occasion 
to  issue  edicts  prohibiting  Buddhist  abbots  from 
mutilating  the  bodies  of  disobedient  monks.1 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that   the   great 
religious  houses  of  China  do  not  all  stand  at  a 

and  tread  under  foot  the  secular  dress  thou  hast  assumed,  and  resume 
the  habit  of  a  spouse  of  Christ  which  thou  didst  throw  off.  .  .  .  But  if 
thou  scornest  to  do  this,  all  will  be  against  thee,  and  I  and  the  Church 
of  God  shall  act  as  in  such  a  case  we  know  how  to  act.  May  Almighty 
God  visit  thine  heart  and  pour  into  it  His  love,  dearest  daughter." 
The  most  significant  and  characteristic  feature  of  the  letter  is  the 
manner  in  which  the  ultimate  argument — the  ugly  threat  of  punish 
ment — is  reserved  for  the  last  paragraph.  The  saint  wishes  his  victim 
clearly  to  understand  that  if  reproachful  pity  and  loving  persuasion 
cannot  effect  the  desired  result,  he  and  "the  Church  of  God"  will  act 
as  in  such  a  case  they  "  know  how  to  act." 

1  In  Europe,  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  laws  had  to  be  passed 
making  it  illegal  for  abbots  to  put  out  their  monks'  eyes. 


XIT.]     MORALS   OF  CHINESE   MONASTERIES      319 

uniform  level  in  respect  of  morals  and  religious 
zeal ;   but  the   reputation  of  such  monasteries  as 
those  of  Chiu-hua  and  Puto,  which  are  far  from 
the  demoralizing  influences   of  the  great  towns, 
is    in    most    cases    deservedly    high.1      That    the 
Chinese  monasteries  are  the  habitual  resort  of  the 
vicious  and  depraved,  and  that  they  offer  sanctuary 
to  criminals  fleeing  from  justice,  is  one  of  those 
noxious   libels  which  —  like   the   story  about  the 
prevalence  of  the  custom  of  slaughtering  female 
infants — is  not  likely  to  be  repeated  in  these  days 
except  by  those  who,  with  the  best  motives,  are 
the  unconscious  victims  of  a  desire  to  exaggerate 
the   moral   obliquities   of  the   "  heathen   Chinee." 
It    would    be    absurd    to    deny    that    there    are 
Buddhist  monks  of  bad  character,  and  that  many 
have  been   attracted    to   the   monkhood    through 
very  unspiritual    motives.      Unfortunately,   there 
are  some  evils  which  from  time  to  time  are  bound 
to  become  unpleasantly  conspicuous  in  connection 
with  any  conceivable  form  of  ccenobitic  life,  especi 
ally  in  an  age  of  religious  apathy  or  degeneration, 
quite  irrespective  of  the  religious  creed  with  which 
it  happens    to    be    associated.      It    is    sometimes 
supposed   that   the   life  of  a  monk  or  hermit   is 
only  fit  for  weak  -  minded  or  incompetent  idlers : 
whereas  it  is  just  such  persons  as  these  to  whom 
this    mode    of    existence    is    pre-eminently   and 
dangerously  unsuited. 

1  This  is  an  opinion  which  is  based  on  personal  observation  and 
enquiry  during  frequent  residence  in  many  of  the  principal  monasteries 
in  China, 


320    MONASTIC  HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN         [CH. 

We  saw  in  the  last  chapter  that  the  Buddhistic 
history  of  Puto  begins  with  the  year  847,  when 
Kuan-yin  appeared  in  a  vision  in  response  to  the 
prayers  of  a  Buddhist  pilgrim  from  India.  The 
next  event  of  religious  importance  took  place 
about  a  decade  later,  when  Puto  was  visited  by 
another  foreigner,  of  greater  celebrity  than  the 
nameless  Indian  ascetic.  This  foreigner  was  a 
Japanese  monk  named  Egaku l — a  name  which 
bears  the  dignified  meaning  of  "Wisdom  Peak." 
He  was  in  high  favour  at  the  Japanese  court,  and 
was  twice  sent  by  the  empress-dowager  Tachibana 
on  religious  missions  to  China.  This  epoch  was 
one  of  great  prosperity  for  Buddhism  in  Japan, 
and  Japanese  Buddhists  were  constantly  moving 
to  and  fro  between  the  great  court -patronized 
monasteries  of  Nara  and  Kyoto  and  the  chief 
centres  of  Buddhist  learning  and  piety  in  China.2 
Japanese  monks,  indeed,  showed  as  much  en 
thusiasm  in  making  pilgrimages  to  the  sacred 
mountains  of  Buddhist  China  as  Chinese  monks 
of  the  same  and  earlier  periods  showed  in  travelling 
to  the  holy  shrines  of  their  faith  in  Kashmir  and 
India. 

In  the  history  of  Japanese  Buddhism  Egaku's 
name  is  a  distinguished  one,  for  to  him  is  assigned 
much  of  the  credit  of  having  introduced  into  his 

1  Egaku  would  be  Hui-o  in  modern  Pekingese. 

2  The  Japanese  imperial  court  resided  at  Nara  from  about  709  to 
784.     In  794  Kyoto  became  the  capital.     It  was  during  the  Kyoto  (or 
Heian)  era  that  the   great   Fujiwara  family  established  itself  as  the 
power  behind,  or  rather  in  front  of,  the  imperial  throne. 


INSCRIBED  ROCK,  NEAR  SUMMIT  OF  PUTO-SHAN. 


THE   CHUSAN    ISLANDS,    FROM   PUTO-SHAN. 


[Facing  p.  320. 


XIL]  THE   ARRIVAL  OF  EGAKU  321 

native  country  from  China  the  doctrines  of  the 
Ch'an  or  Contemplative  school.  This  is  a  fact 
which  should  not  be  overlooked  by  Western 
students  and  admirers  of  Japanese  artistic  culture, 
for  it  is  this  school  of  Buddhism  (known  in  Japan  as 
the  Zen)  which  is  more  closely  associated  than  any 
other  with  the  finest  developments  of  Japanese 
art.1  While  in  China  Egaku  paid  two  visits  to 
the  holy  mountain  of  Wu-t'ai  (known  to  the 
Japanese  as  Godaisan),  and  on  the  occasion  of 
his  second  visit  he  obtained  possession  of  a 
beautiful  image  of  Kuan-yin,  which  he  intended 
to  take  back  to  Japan.  Starting  from  Hangchow 
Bay  he  set  sail  for  home,  but  while  his  junk 
was  passing  through  the  Chusan  archipelago  it 
grounded  on  a  sunken  rock  near  the  island  of 
Puto.  Everything  possible  was  done  to  lighten 
the  vessel,  even  the  cargo  being  ruthlessly  sacri 
ficed  ;  but  all  measures  proved  useless,  until  at 
last  it  occurred  to  Egaku  that  the  trouble  might 
possibly  be  due  to  Kuan-yin's  unwillingness  to 
be  transported  to  Japan.  The  pusa  had  clearly 
inspired  him  with  the  true  solution  of  the  diffi 
culty,  for  no  sooner  had  he  reverently  landed  his 
precious  image  on  the  sacred  shores  of  Puto 


1  In  Japan  the  Zeri  school  consists  of  three  main  divisions — 
the  Rinzai,  Soto,  and  Obaku.  The  first  of  these  is  the  sect 
which  is  known  in  China  as  Lin-chi,  and  which  in  that  country 
has  its  headquarters  at  Puto.  It  is  the  Lin-chi  subdivision  of  the 
Ch'an,  or  Jhana,  school,  which  is  associated  with  the  name  of 
Egaku, 

X 


322     MONASTIC   HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN         [CH. 

than  the  junk  slid  off  the  rock  and  resumed  its 
journey  without  further  misadventure. 

According  to  a  more  romantic  version  of  the 
story,  Egaku 's  junk,  with  the  image  on  board, 
was  sailing  among  the  islands  when  suddenly 
its  progress  was  arrested  by  a  miraculous  growth 
of  water-lilies,  which  seemed  to  cover  the  whole 
surface  of  the  sea.  Egaku  offered  up  a  prayer 
to  Kuan-yin,  and  vowed  that  if  he  and  his  com 
panions  were  brought  safely  out  of  their  present 
unhappy  plight  he  would  establish  a  shrine  for 
the  worship  of  the  pusa  at  the  first  place  to 
which  she  in  her  wisdom  and  mercy  might  choose 
to  conduct  them.  The  immediate  result  of  this 
prayer  was  that  in  the  midst  of  the  water-lilies 
a  clear  way  was  opened  for  the  junk,  which 
thereupon  by  some  mysterious  agency  was  guided 
to  Puto.  Mindful  of  his  vow,  Egaku  here  left 
the  junk  and  landed  with  his  image  on  the  south 
eastern  shores  of  the  sacred  island,  close  to  that 
rocky  promontory  which  contains  the  famous 
Ch'ao-yin  Cave. 

The  legend  goes  on  to  say  that  Egaku  was 
hospitably  received  by  a  family  of  islanders  of 
the  name  of  Chang,  who  when  they  discovered 
that  Egaku  was  a  holy  man,  and  his  image  a 
miraculous  one,  willingly  provided  their  guest  with 
food  and  lodging.  In  pursuance  of  his  vow  he 
forthwith  converted  the  building  provided  for  his 
use  into  a  temple  for  the  worship  of  Kuan-yin. 
In  this  temple  he  enshrined  his  sacred  image 


xii.]  THE   SEA   OF   WATER-LILIES  328 

which  soon  acquired  a  wide  celebrity  under  the 
name  of  the  Pu-k'en-ch'u  Kuan-yin  (the  "  Kuan- 
yin  who  refused  to  go  away ") :  for,  said  her 
worshippers,  the  pusa  had  made  it  abundantly 
clear  that  she  had  no  wish  to  go  to  Japan  or 
anywhere  else,  but  was  determined  to  make  her 
home  in  the  island  of  the  "  Little  White  Flower." 

Egaku  is  a  historical  character,  and  his  pilgrim 
ages  to  some  of  the  holy  places  of  Buddhist 
China  are  well-authenticated  facts.  The  miracle- 
loving  chroniclers  have,  of  course,  embellished 
the  story  of  his  narrow  escape  from  shipwreck, 
but  though  we  must  assume  that  the  water- 
lilies  which  obstructed  the  progress  of  his  junk 
were  nothing  more  miraculous  than  the  white- 
crested  waves  of  a  stormy  sea,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  he  landed,  or  was  driven  ashore, 
at  Puto  and  there  returned  thanks  to  the  gracious 
pusa  who  had  saved  him  from  the  perils  of  the 
deep. 

To  this  day  the  Chusan  Sea  —  or  rather  that 
portion  of  it  which  lies  between  the  principal 
island  and  Puto — is  known  as  the  Lien-hua-yang 
(the  "  Sea  of  Water-lilies  ").  The  idea  of  the  water- 
lilies  is  one  which  has  captivated  the  Buddhist 
imagination,  for  the  monastic  chronicles  of  Puto 
contain  several  stories  in  which  the  same  motif 
reappears.  We  are  told,  for  example,  that 
about  the  year  1080  certain  predatory  "Dwarfs" 
came  to  China  "  bearing  tribute "  to  the  Sung 
emperor,  and  in  the  course  of  their  return 


324    MONASTIC   HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

journey  from  Hangchow  (then  the  capital)  they 
landed  at  Puto  and  carried  away  some  of  the 
precious  relics.1  But  no  sooner  did  they  attempt 
to  resume  their  eastward  course  than  they  found 
their  ship  enmeshed  in  the  tendrils  of  countless 
water-lilies,  which  seemed  as  though  they  were 
made  of  iron.  The  frightened  "  Dwarfs  "  hastily 
restored  the  sacred  articles  to  their  shrines,  and 
the  "  iron "  water-lilies  immediately  disappeared. 

A  similar  story  is  told  of  a  Chinese  official 
named  Wang  Kuei,  who  was  sent  to  Puto  by 
the  Sung  emperor  "to  worship  Buddha,"  but 
showed  himself  "lacking  in  reverence."  On  his 
homeward  journey  his  ship  was  held  fast  in  an 
impenetrable  jungle  of  water-lilies.  Kneeling 
on  the  deck  with  his  face  towards  the  holy 
island,  he  humbly  implored  the  outraged  pusa's 
forgiveness ;  whereupon  a  white  ox  suddenly 
emerged  from  the  depths  of  the  sea  and  pro 
ceeded  to  get  rid  of  the  water-lilies  by  eating 
them  up.  The  sea  was  soon  cleared  and  the 
junk  released,  whereupon  the  ox  transformed 
itself  into  a  white  rock,  which  still  remains  a 
conspicuous  feature  of  the  Lien-hua  Sea,  silently 
but  unanswerably  refuting  the  arguments  of 

1  "Dwarfs"  is  a  name  which  the  Chinese  used  to  apply  to  the 
Japanese,  just  as  they  spoke  of  Europeans  as  ft  Foreign  Devils." 
See  Lion  and  Dragon  in  Northern  China,  1910,  pp.  46,  48, 
70.  The  term  "  tribute  -  bearers "  was  commonly  applied  to  the 
members  of  any  mission  from  a  foreign  state,  not  excepting  the 
British  mission  under  Lord  Macartney  in  1792.  The  writers  of 
the  Puto  Chronicle  are  careful  to  abstain  from  describing  Egaku 
either  as  a  Dwarf  or  as  a  tribute-bearer. 


xii.]  A   MONK   OF  PUTO  325 

all   doubters,    and   putting   fear    into    the    hearts 
of  all  scoffers. 

If  we  of  the  prosaic  West  permit  ourselves 
to  see  white  horses  in  the  wind  -  swept  ocean, 
why  may  we  not  allow  the  dreaming  Buddhist 
to  see  white  lilies  there  ?  In  any  case,  his  notion 
that  some  miraculous  agency  is  frequently  at 
work  in  the  Puto  Strait  will  not  be  judged  too 
harshly  by  those  who  from  the  island's  western 
shores  have  observed  how  quickly  and  unex 
pectedly  those  normally  peaceful  waters  are  apt 
to  curl  themselves  into  white- crested  breakers.1 
The  Chusan  islanders  have  a  saying  to  the 
effect  that  the  rains  of  this  locality  are  like 
the  tears  of  a  petulant  woman  —  quick  to  fall, 
slow  to  cease.  This  saying  has  been  adapted 
by  a  certain  monk  of  to-day  to  the  fretfulness 
of  the  Puto  Strait.  It  is  like  a  woman,  he 
declares,  normally  gentle  and  peaceful,  but 
easily  roused  to  wrath  and  difficult  to  pacify. 
So,  when  the  water  -  lilies  appear,  that  same 
monk  may  not  infrequently  be  found  sitting 
pensively  on  the  "  Pulpit  of  Kuan-yin  "  and  gaz 
ing  —  a  little  wistfully,  perhaps  —  in  a  westerly 
direction  over  the  restless  waters  at  the  misty 
shores  of  the  world  which  he  has  abandoned. 
If  roused  from  his  reverie,  he  may  say — perhaps 
he  may  believe  -  -  that  his  thoughts  were  con 
centrated  wholly  on  the  Paradise  of  the  divine 

1  The   unromantic   cause  of  the  phenomenon    is,   doubtless,   the 
shallowness  of  the  water. 


326     MONASTIC  HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

Amitabha,  which,  he  will  remind  you,  lies  also 
in  the  west,  and  to  which  the  compassionate 
Kuan-yin,  whom  he  has  served  so  faithfully,  will 
some  day  conduct  him.  Who  is  to  chide  him, 
indeed,  if  from  time  to  time  visions  of  the  busy 
world  of  men  —  and  of  women  —  mingle  with 
his  visions  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  the  saints  ? 

Egaku's  arrival  at  Puto  probably  took  place 
in  or  about  the  year  858.  The  Chinese  Chronicle 
of  the  island  assigns  the  event  to  the  second 
year  of  Cheng  Ming  of  the  Liang  dynasty,  which 
corresponds  with  916  of  our  era,  but  this  seems 
to  be  certainly  a  mistake.1  It  seems  probable, 
however,  that  in  916  the  island  was  again 
"  opened  "  —to  use  the  Chinese  phrase — as  the  tao- 
ch'ang,  or  "  Sanctuary  of  Kuan-yin,"  and  that  by 
this  time  all  vestiges  of  the  earlier  shrine  of  Egaku 
had  vanished.  It  is  very  unlikely,  indeed,  that 
Egaku  made  a  long  stay  in  the  island.  The 
Chronicle  says  that  the  Chang  family,  whom  he 

1  In  this  matter  I  accept  the  arguments  and  suggestions  ably  put 
forward  by  N.  Peri  and  H.  Maspero  in  the  Bulletin  de  FEcole 
Francaise  d' Extreme-Orient,  tome  ix.,  No.  4,  pp.  797  ff.  Their  con 
clusions  are  based  on  incontrovertible  facts  of  Japanese  history. 
It  may  be  mentioned,  however,  that  the  writers  were  evidently  unaware 
of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  later  edition  of  the  P'u-t'o-shan-chih  (the 
Chinese  Chronicle  of  Puto)  than  that  to  which  they  refer.  Their 
edition  was  of  the  eighteenth  century,  whereas  that  in  my  possession 
was  published  about  1843.  It  is  a  great  improvement  on  the  earlier 
editions,  but  it  repeats  the  mistake  about  the  year  of  Egaku's  arrival  at 
Puto.  There  is,  however,  one  passage  which  implies  that  he  came 
to  the  island  in  the  Tfang  dynasty.  This  was  true  if  the  year  858 
be  accepted  as  the  correct  one  ;  whereas  if  he  did  not  arrive  till  916  the 
Tfang  dynasty  was  already  extinct.  (For  the  passage  referred  to,  see 
the  (Jhih,  ch.  ix.  p.  15.) 


XIL]  THE   TEMPLES   OF  PUTO  327 

found  living  there,  were  prompted  by  religious 
zeal  to  give  up  their  own  dwelling-house  to  Egaku 
so  that  it  might  be  converted  into  a  temple  for 
Kuan-yin's  image ;  but  the  information  that  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  is  so  scanty  that  even 
the  site  of  the  temple — which  is  known  to  history 
as  the  Pu-k'en-ch'u  Kuan-yin  Yuan  (the  "  Temple 
of  the  Kuan-yin  who  refused  to  go  away ") — is  a 
matter  of  uncertainty.  The  generally  accepted 
view  is  that  it  was  close  to  the  Ch'ao-yin  Cave, 
where  Egaku  is  supposed  to  have  landed,  and 
that  its  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  temple  and 
small  monastery  known  as  the  Tzii-chu-lin.1  As 
for  the  famous  image,  we  must  regretfully  record 
the  fact  that  it  belied  its  name  by  disappearing 
from  Puto  at  a  very  early  date.2 

The  monastic  houses  of  Puto  have  passed 
through  strange  vicissitudes.  They  have  been  so 
repeatedly  burned  and  plundered  by  pirates  that 
practically  all  the  present  buildings  are  modern, 
arid  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  a  single 
structure  which  can  be  assigned  to  an  earlier  date 
than  the  fourteenth  century.  Even  of  that  period 

1  See  the  Chih,  ch.  ix.  p.  14.  An  alternative  name  of  this  temple  is 
T'ing-ch'ao-an  ("  Listen  -  to  -  the  -  tide  -  waves  Temple  "),  the  reference 
being  to  the  roar  of  the  tidal  waters  rushing  into  the  sacred  cave. 
Like  all  the  other  temples  of  Puto.,  it  has  undergone  several  restora 
tions.  An  autograph  scroll  was  presented  to  it  by  the  Emperor 
K/ang-hsi  in  1699.  Unfortu i lately ,  the  present  building  is  not  a 
beautiful  one :  it  was  obviously  designed  by  an  architect  cursed  with 
an  exaggerated  sense  of  the  importance  of  mere  usefulness. 

2  According  to  one  account,  it  was  removed  during  one  of  the 
temporary  migrations  made  by  the  monks  to  the  mainland,  and  was  set 
up  in  a  temple  in  the  Ningpo  prefecture. 


328     MONASTIC  HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN        [OH. 

the  only  relic — though  it  is  a  valuable  one — is 
the  very  picturesque  but  somewhat  battered  tower 
known  as  the  "Pagoda  of  the  Prince  Imperial."1 
The  records  tell  us  that  this  pagoda  was  erected 
about  the  year  1334  by  a  monk  named  Fou  Chung 
at  the  expense  of  his  patron  and  disciple,  a  pious 
prince  named  Hsiian-jang.2  The  pagoda  was  built 
of  fine  stone  specially  imported  from  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  the  T'ai-hu — the  island  sea  that  lies 
to  the  west  of  the  city  of  Soochow — and  the 
carving  was  executed  with  minute  care  and  skill. 
Among  the  figures  of  Buddhas  and  bodhisats 
which  adorn  its  four  sides  are  the  pusas  of  the 
Four  Sacred  Hills — Kuan-yin,  Ti-tsang,  P'u-hsien, 
and  Wen-shu. 

The  pagoda  stands  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  monastic  centre  of  the  island — a  cluster  of 
temples  and  monasteries,  of  which  by  far  the 
greatest  is  the  "Southern  Monastery"  (Ch'ien-ssu). 
Its  correct  name  is  P'u-chi-ssu,  or  "  Monastery  of 
Universal  Salvation."  The  first  building  is  a  hall3 
which  is  roofed  with  tiles  of  imperial  yellow  and 
contains  tablets  bearing  the  engraved  reproductions 
of  decrees  issued  by  emperors  of  the  Ming  and 

1  T'ai-tzu  T'a.     I  do  not  know  what  Edkins'  authority  was   for 
his    statement  that    this   pagoda  was    named  after    the  prince  who 
subsequently  became  the  Emperor  Wan-li  (Chinese  Buddhism  [1883 
ed.],  p.  265).     The  pagoda  belongs  to  the  Yuan,  not  to  the  Ming, 
dynasty  ;  and  it  seems  very  doubtful  whether  the  prince  in  question 
belonged  to  the  Chinese  imperial  family. 

2  The  career  of  Fou  Chung,  who  was  treated  with  great  reverence 
by  several  persons  of  high  rank,  is  described  in  the  Chih,  ch.  vii.  pp.  4-5. 

3  Yu-pei-tfang. 


THE   HALL  OF   IMPERIAL  TABLETS,    SOUTHERN   MONASTERY 


THE    PRINCE'S   PAGODA,    PUTO. 


\_Facingp   328. 


xii.]  MONASTERY  OF  UNIVERSAL  SALVATION  329 

Ch'ing  dynasties.  In  front  of  this  hall  is  a  lotus- 
pond  with  a  picturesque  archway  and  several 
graceful  kiosks  and  bridges. 

Behind  the  imperial  pavilion  we  come  to  the 
bell  and  drum  towers  and  to  the  "  Hall  of  the 
Four  Heavenly  Kings  "  who  are  the  protectors  or 
champions  of  the  faith  in  the  four  quarters  of 
the  universe.  Behind  this  hall  we  reach  a  court 
yard  remarkable  for  its  trees,  its  carved  balustrades, 
and  its  great  incense  -  burners  and  candlesticks. 
It  is  flanked  by  pavilions  containing  images  of 
"the  eighteen  lo-han"  (arahants).  The  large 
building  in  front  is  the  chief  sanctuary  of  the 
temple — the  chapel  of  Kuan-yin.1  A  very  large 
image  of  the  pusa  occupies  the  central  position, 
and  thirty- two  figures — sixteen  on  each  side — 
represent  the  pusa's  transformations.2  The  large 
courtyard  behind  the  great  sanctuary  contains 
the  various  monastic  offices,  guest-quarters,  abbot's 
apartments,  and  refectory.  The  centre  is  occupied 
by  the  Fa-t'ang  or  "  Hall  of  the  Law,"  a  two-storied 
building.  The  lower  story  contains  images  of 
Sakyamuni,  P'u-hsien,  and  Wenshu.  The  upper 
storey,  which  is  the  library,  contains  one  of  the 
alabaster  Buddhas  which  are  to  be  seen  in  several 
of  the  temples  of  Puto.  They  are  of  Burmese 
origin,  and  are  said  to  have  come  from  Mandalay.3 
That  there  are  Chinese  monks  of  the  present  day 

1  Yuan-t'ung-pao-tien.     See  above,  pp.  272-3. 

2  See  pp.  276,  288. 

3  From  Peking  to\Mandalay,  p.  86. 


330     MONASTIC  HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

who  from  religious  motives  gladly  undertake  the 
long  and  expensive  journey  to  Burma  is  a  fact 
which  is  of  special  interest  when  we  remember 
that  the  Buddhism  of  Burma  and  the  Buddhism 
of  China  are  usually  regarded  by  Western  students 
as  hopelessly  irreconcilable  in  respect  of  both 
doctrine  and  practice.  But  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  traditions  and  ideals  of 
Oriental  religious  life  will  convince  us  that  nearly 
all  forms  of  Buddhism  are  vitalized  by  one 
indwelling  spirit,  of  which  the  most  characteristic 
manifestation  is  a  gracious  and  winning  tolerance. 
Buddhism  is  perhaps  the  only  great  religion  the 
world  has  known  which  not  only  teaches  that  the 
freedom  of  the  human  spirit  is  a  desirable  ideal, 
but  achieves  a  more  than  moderate  success  in 
making  its  practice  in  this  respect  conform  with 
its  theory. 

The  residential  quarters  of  the  P'u-chi  Monas 
tery  it  is  unnecessary  to  describe.  Like  nearly  all 
structures  of  similar  character  in  China,  they  are 
of  comparatively  plain  exterior  and  of  small 
architectural  interest.  It  is  always  the  temple 
buildings  and  shrines,  with  their  magnificent 
timbered  roofs,  and  the  exquisite  kiosks  and 
pavilions  which  shelter  the  scrolls  and  tablets  of 
emperors  and  poets,  that  give  free  scope  to  the 
skill  and  taste  of  the  Buddhist  architect  and 
carver. 

The  present  name  of  the  P'u-chi  Monastery 
does  not  appear  in  the  records  of  the  island  till 


XIL]  IMPERIAL  PATRONAGE  ssl 

the  year  1699.  In  that  year,  which  was  the 
thirty  -  eighth  of  the  reign  of  K'ang-hsi,  the 
emperor  went  on  a  "  southern  progress,"  and  in 
accordance  with  a  practice  frequently  followed 
by  Chinese  rulers  before  and  after  his  time  in 
respect  of  the  great  monastic  institutions  of  the 
empire,  despatched  certain  state  officials  to  Puto 
to  offer  up  public  prayers  and  thanksgivings.  On 
this  occasion  he  made  a  handsome  donation  to  a 
restoration  fund — it  was  not  the  first  time  he  had 
subscribed  to  the  monastic  treasure-chest  —  and 
presented  the  monks  of  Puto  with  various 
autograph  scrolls,  one  of  which  bore  the  words 
P'u  -  chi  -  ch'an  -  ssu  (the  "  Jhana  Monastery  of 
Universal  Salvation  "). 

The  practice  of  inviting  an  emperor  to  confer 
a  new  name  on  a  monastery  undergoing  restora 
tion  under  imperial  sanction  and  patronage  used 
to  be  a  very  common  one  throughout  China. 
On  such  occasions  the  emperor  wrote  (or  was 
supposed  to  write)  the  characters  comprising  the 
new  name — we  must  assume  that  as  a  rule  the 
name  was  suggested  to  him — and  these  characters, 
which  were  written  on  a  very  large  scale,  were 
transferred  by  the  wood-engravers  to  an  oblong 
board  known  as  a  pien.1  Besides  the  large 
characters,  the  pien  bore  facsimiles  of  the  imperial 
seal  and  the  date  and  year-name  of  the  emperor. 
After  having  been  carefully  lacquered  and  gilded, 

1  Piens  are,  of  course,  presented  by  others  besides  emperors,  and  to 
many  buildings  besides  temples. 


332     MONASTIC  HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN       [OH. 

the  pien  was  ready  to  be  suspended  in  a  t'ing 
(•'small  pavilion")  or  over  the  principal  shrine  or 
main  gateway  of  the  favoured  temple. 

The  previous  history  of  the  monastery  known 
since  1699  as  the  P'u-chi  is  somewhat  obscure, 
partly  owing  to  various  changes  of  name,  and 
partly  to  the  fact  that  some  of  the  monkish 
chroniclers  have  confused  the  records  of  this 
monastery  with  those  of  the  Tzu-chu-lin,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,1  seems  to  have  the  best  title 
to  be  regarded  as  the  true  representative  of  the 
original  building  converted  by  the  shipwrecked 
Egaku  into  a  shrine  for  "the  image  that  would 
not  go  away." 

There  is  evidence  that  numerous  monks  and 
hermits  began  to  take  up  their  residence  in  the 
island  during  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries. 
In  967  the  first  emperor  of  the  Sung  dynasty 
extended  his  protection  to  the  monks ;  and  in 
1080  a  court  -  official  named  Wang  Shun-feng 
presented  a  report  to  the  throne  concerning  certain 
miraculous  doings  of  Kuan-yin,  and  this  impressed 
the  emperor  so  deeply  that  he  became  a  patron 
of  the  island  and  authorized  the  principal  house 
(we  cannot  be  sure  which  it  was)  to  adopt  the 
name  Pao-t'o-Kuan-yin-ssu 2  (the  "  Monastery  of 
the  Holy  Hill  of  Kuan-yin  "). 

At  this  time  the  "  rule "  of  the  monks  was 
that  of  the  Lli  or  Vinaya  school;  but  in  1131  a 

1  See  p.  327. 


xii.]  A  FAMOUS   MONK  333 

distinguished  monk  named  Chen-hsieh  (also  known 
as  Ching-liao),  a  native  of  the  province  of  Ssuch'uan, 
came  to  Puto  and  introduced  the  Ch'an  doctrines. 
The  Chronicle  says  that  on  this  account  he  is 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Ch'an  school  of 
Puto-shan ;  but  though  the  throne  was  asked  to 
authorize  the  substitution  of  the  Ch'an  for  the  Lii 
rule,1  the  Ch'an  did  not  have  everything  its  own 
way  after  this  time,  for  we  learn  that  it  had  to  be 
re-introduced  at  a  much  later  date.  Chen-hsieh, 
however,  was  a  learned  and  far  -  travelled  monk, 
whose  name  is  deservedly  held  in  honour  by  Chinese 
Buddhists.  He  seems  to  have  been  one  whom 
nowadays  we  should  term  a  "  revivalist,"  and  was 
never  weary  of  rambling  from  place  to  place  preach 
ing  and  converting.  Wu-t'ai  was  one  scene  of  his 
labours,  T'ien-t'ai  was  another.  When  he  came 
to  Puto,  which  he  made  his  home  for  many  years, 
he  found  the  neighbouring  islands  occupied  by 
more  than  seven  hundred  families  of  fishermen. 
We  are  told  that  as  soon  as  they  heard  Chen-hsieh 
preach  the  Law  they  one  and  all  abandoned  their 
fishing-boats.2 

This  striking  little  story  can  hardly  fail  to 
recall  a  somewhat  similar  one  which  occupies  an 
honourable  place  in  Christian  literature  ; 3  but  the 
story  about  Chen-hsieh  and  his  fishermen  becomes 
characteristically  Buddhistic  when  it  goes  on  to 

1  as  n •$  m  %* «  « if® 

2ff*  m  -fc  H  14  ^  «  m  %  -  «  &  « fA  * 

ch.  vii.  p.  2). 

3  Matthew  iv.  18,  22.     Cf.  Mark  i.  16-20  and  Luke  v.  11. 


334     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF   PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

tell  us  that  by  drawing  the  fishermen  away 
from  their  boats  Chen-hsieh  saved  the  lives  of 
thousands  of  fish.  The  anecdote  is  probably 
intended  to  emphasize  the  righteousness  of  refrain 
ing  from  fishing  in  the  waters  of  Puto.1  But 
it  does  not  imply  that  the  fisherman  wholly 
abandoned  their  occupation.  The  meaning  seems 
to  be  that  while  Chen-hsieh  was  preaching  the 
fishermen  left  their  boats  and  came  to  listen  to 
him.  Whether  they  ever  returned  to  their  fishing 
or  not  is  a  doubtful  question.  The  Buddhists  of 
Puto  answer  it  in  the  negative. 

In  1214  we  find  a  record  of  an  imperial  gift  for 
rebuilding  and  restoration ;  and  when  the  work 
was  completed  the  emperor  (one  of  the  last  of 
the  expiring  Sung  dynasty)  presented  a  pien  for 
the  principal  chapel  of  Kuan-yin,  together  with 
gold-embroidered  ceremonial  robes,  silver  chalices, 
altar  hangings,  and  ornaments  of  pearl  and  jasper. 
In  1248  the  island  was  released  from  taxation. 

The  rulers  of  the  Yuan  (Mongol)  dynasty, 
which  held  the  throne  between  1280  and  1367, 
were  zealous  supporters  of  Buddhism,  and  Puto 
enjoyed  a  large  share  of  imperial  favour.  Ch'eng 
Tsung  (Timour  Khan),  grandson  of  the  great 
Kublai,  sent  officials  with  presents  to  the  island 
four  times  in  four  successive  years  (1298-1301)  and 
his  example  was  followed  by  three  other  emperors 
of  the  same  dynasty. 

One  of  Puto's  lay-visitors  during  the  closing 

1  See  p.  292.     A  similar  story  is  told  of  Chih-che,  a  famous  monk 
ofT'ien-t'ai. 


XIL]  JAPANESE   PIRATES  335 

years  of  the  dynasty  was  a  well-known  scholar 
named  Ting  Ho-nien  (1335-1424).  He  belonged 
to  a  Mohammedan  family  which  had  migrated  from 
Central  Asia,  under  the  protection  of  the  conquer 
ing  Mongols,  to  the  province  of  Hupei.  He  led  a 
wandering  and  unhappy  life  during  the  troublous 
times  that  marked  the  fall  of  the  Mongols  and  the 
rise  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  but  he  found  some  con 
solation  for  his  woes  among  the  temples  of  Puto, 
and  he  celebrated  the  charms  of  the  island  in  poetry. 

During  the  Ming  period  (1368-1643)  fortune 
bestowed  alternate  smiles  and  frowns  on  the  holy 
island.  The  ravages  of  Japanese  pirates  brought 
great  misery  upon  the  monks  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  indeed  by 
1387  nearly  all  the  buildings  were  reduced  to  a 
state  of  ruin,  and  in  that  year  the  Chinese  general 
T'ang  Ho,  who  had  been  entrusted  with  the 
defence  of  the  coasts  of  Chehkiang,  deemed  it 
necessary  to  remove  the  monks  to  the  mainland. 
The  only  building  left  standing  is  said  to  have 
been  an  iron-tiled  pavilion,  and  a  single  courageous 
monk  named  I-ch'ieh  was  left  in  charge  of  the 
desolate  sanctuaries  of  Kuan-yin. 

The  history  of  Puto  is  a  blank  for  nearly  a 
hundred  and  thirty  years.  It  was  not  till  1515 
that  the  efforts  of  a  monk  named  Tan-chai  resulted 
in  the  rebuilding  of  a  small  religious  house.  A 
new  era  of  prosperity  for  the  island  seemed 
likely  to  dawn,  but  in  1553  the  "  Eastern 
Dwarfs  " l  again  harried  the  coast,  and  the  governor 

1  Tung  Wo, 


836     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

of  the  province  moved  the  monastic  establishment, 
such  as  it  was,  to  the  Island  of  Chusan. 

In  1572  a  monastery  was  again  founded  by  a 
monk  from  Wu-t'ai.  His  name  was  Chen-sung 
("  True  Pine-tree").  Two  years  later  certain  monks 
beheld  a  beautiful  vision  on  the  sea  of  water-lilies. 
From  the  sea  mists  emerged  a  white-robed  figure 
seated  on  a  golden  lotus.  This  was  regarded  as  a 
sign  that  days  of  happiness  for  Puto  were  about  to 
return.  The  omen  was  a  true  one,  for  the  vision 
almost  coincided  with  the  accession  of  the  weak 
but  pious  emperor  Wan-li,  who  proved  himself  a 
good  friend  to  the  monks  of  Puto.  Both  the 
emperor  and  the  empress-dowager  frequently  sent 
emissaries  to  the  island  with  gifts  of  money, 
monks'  robes,  altar  embroideries,  sacred  images, 
medicines  for  sick  monks,  and  autograph  scrolls. 
In  1586  the  imperial  munificence  provided  for  the 
rebuilding  of  new  quarters  for  fifty-three  monks. 
In  1598  there  was  a  disastrous  fire,  which  neces 
sitated  rebuilding.  In  this  work  the  imperial 
family  took  considerable  interest,  and  when  it 
was  finished,  in  1605,  a  court  official  named  Chang 
Sui  was  sent  to  the  island  in  charge  of  a  pien  bear 
ing  a  new  title  for  the  restored  monastery.  This 
title  was  Hu  -  kuo  -  yung  -  shou  -  P'u  -  t'o  -  ch'an  -  ssu 
("the  Jhana  Monastery  of  Puto  ensuring  protec 
tion  to  the  State  and  long  life  to  His  Majesty").1 

In  this  inscription  we  have  an  indication  of  the 
point  of  view  from  which  emperors  and  state 


ffl 


XIL]  FENG-SHUI  337 

officials  in  China  have  from  time  immemorial 
defended  and  justified  the  un-Confucian  recognition 
and  support  which  they  have  intermittently  ex 
tended  towards  Buddhist  and  Taoist  temples  and 
monastic  communities.  Temples  and  religious 
houses,  like  pagodas,  are,  or  were,  regarded  as 
beneficial  to  the  feng-shui  of  their  neighbourhood 
— that  is,  they  are  centres  of  good  geomantic  influ 
ences,  and  radiate  those  influences  over  the  whole 
district  which  happens  to  be  subject  to  their 
spiritual  sway.  The  temples  which  are  situated 
on  some  "  sacred  hill "  are  regarded  as  deserving  of 
greater  reverence  than  any  others,  because  the 
spiritual  radiations  emanating  from  any  such  build 
ing  are  intensified  by  the  sanctity  of  the  hill  itself ; 
the  benefits  they  confer  extend  throughout  the 
whole  empire,  so  that  even  the  throne  itself  is  within 
the  sphere  of  their  benign  influence.  It  is  believed 
that  the  main  reason  why  the  T'ai-p'ing  rebels 
destroyed  all  the  mountain-monasteries  they  came 
across  (including,  as  we  have  seen,  those  of  Chiu- 
hua-shan)  and  deliberately  wrecked  one  of  the 
empire's  greatest  artistic  glories — the  exquisite 
Porcelain  Pagoda  at  Nanking — was  because  they 
thought  that  these  buildings  exercised  an  influence 
inimical  to  their  cause.1  As  for  the  partial 

1  For  a  vivid  account  of  the  ruin  and  desolation  wrought  in 
Chehkiang  and  Anhui  by  the  ' '  Society  of  God  "  (as  the  T'ai-p'ing 
rebels  styled  themselves)  under  their  bloodthirsty  and  fanatical  leader 
Hung  Hsiu-chfiian,  who  called  himself  a  Brother  of  Christ,  see  Baron 
Richthofen,  Letters  (1870-2),  2nd  ed.,  Shanghai,  1903,  pp.  75-6. 
With  reference  to  Chiu-hua-shan,  see  above,  p.  222. 

y 


338     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

immunity  from  destruction  or  spoliation  enjoyed 
by  many  of  the  great  Buddhist  monasteries  during 
the  various  anti- Buddhistic  outbreaks  of  Confucian 
officialdom,  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  immunity 
has  been  partly  due  to  a  general  belief  in  the  truth 
of  the  theory  that  such  institutions  were  productive 
offeng-shui  favourable  to  the  welfare  of  the  State 
as  a  whole.  Perhaps,  however,  the  monasteries 
were  even  more  deeply  indebted  to  those  numerous 
Confucian  statesmen  who  spared  the  sanctuaries  of 
Buddha  because  they  themselves  looked  forward 
to  spending  their  later  years  in  scholarly  retirement 
in  some  sequestered  mountain  -  hermitage ;  and 
also  to  the  innumerable  artists  and  poets  who,  if 
not  always  confessed  worshippers  of  Buddha,  have 
at  least  been  thorough  Buddhists  in  their  worship 
of  wild  nature. 

The  reign  of  Wan-li  is  chiefly  memorable  in 
the  annals  of  Buddhism  for  the  publication  of  a 
portion  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures  and  for  the 
distribution  of  complete  sets  of  the  whole  Chinese 
Tripitaka  (so  -  called)  to  most  of  the  great 
monasteries  of  the  empire.1  Under  two  previous 
emperors  of  the  dynasty,  Yung-lo  (1403-24)  and 
Cheng-t'ung  (1436-49),  a  new  edition  of  nearly 
the  whole  vast  collection  had  already  been  printed, 
but  apparently  it  was  not  widely  distributed.  The 
number  of  ha?i  then  printed  (each  han  containing 
several  pen,  or  separate  volumes)  amounted  to 
637.  In  Wan-li's  time  41  han  still  remained 

1  See  above,  p.  235. 


XIL]  IMPERIAL  EDICTS  339 

imprinted.1  The  emperor,  in  obedience  to  the 
wishes  of  the  empress-dowager,  decided  to  make 
good  the  deficiency,  and  as  soon  as  the  work  was 
finished  imperial  edicts  were  issued  in  which  the 
circumstances  of  publication  and  distribution  were 
fully  set  forth. 

"  The  imperial  will,"  says  one  of  the  edicts,2 
"  is  as  follows :  We  in  all  sincerity  of  heart  have 
caused  to  be  printed  the  Buddhist  scriptures,  and 
have  ordered  complete  sets  to  be  deposited  in  the 
capital  and  distributed  among  the  monasteries  of 
the  Famous  Mountains  of  the  empire,  where  they 
are  to  be  treated  with  due  reverence  and  carefully 
preserved." 

The  monks  are  enjoined  to  guard  the  sacred 
books  from  all  harm,  to  read  them  diligently 
morning  and  evening,  and  to  use  them  to  such 
good  purpose  that  all  the  world  may  be  brought 
into  fellowship  with  the  religion  of  Love,  Com 
passion,  and  Goodness.3 

"From  of  old  time,"  says  another  of  the 
edicts,  "the  emperors  and  rulers  of  our  land 
have  modelled  their  methods  of  government  upon 
Confucian  principles.  But  Confucianism  is  not 

1  These  41  han  comprised  410  chiian,  or  chapters. 

3  They  are  variously  dated  from  1586  to  1611.  Separate  edicts 
(identical  in  nearly  everything  but  the  names  of  the  monasteries  con 
cerned)  were  issued  to  the  monks  of  each  favoured  mountain.  Those 
received  by  Puto  are  recorded  in  the  Chih,  ch,  xiv.  Each  of  the  two 
great  monasteries  of  Puto  received  a  complete  set  of  the  Tripitaka  as 
issued  by  Wan-li.  In  spite  of  losses  due  to  fires  and  robberies,  the 
monastic  authorities  state  that  their  sets  are  almost  complete. 

3  n  m  m  />  *  ISJ  If  t  H  *  ft.  The  edict  in 
which  this  occurs  is  dated  1599. 


340     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

the  only  doctrine :  there  is  also  Buddhism.  These 
two  doctrines  are  like  the  wings  of  a  bird :  each 
requires  the  co-operation  of  the  other." 

This  observation,  to  which  an  uncompromising 
Confucian  would  demur,  would  meet  with  the 
approval  of  the  majority  of  Chinese  Buddhists. 
Wan-li's  religious  tolerance,  however,  did  not  save 
his  dynasty  from  disaster.  In  1619  he  died,  and 
in  1643  the  last  emperor  of  the  Ming  line 
hanged  himself  on  a  tree  in  his  palace  garden. 

That  the  support  given  to  Buddhism  by  some 
of  the  Ming  emperors  did  not  alienate  the  sym 
pathies  of  all  their  Confucian  subjects  is  touchingly 
illustrated  by  the  story  of  Wu  Chung -luan,  a 
scholar  and  statesman  who  rose  to  the  position 
of  vice-president  of  the  Board  of  Rites.  After  the 
fall  of  the  dynasty  he  retired  to  Puto,  and  there, 
for  a  few  years,  he  lived  the  life  of  a  recluse. 
In  a  graceful  little  poem  he  describes  the  consola 
tions  of  this  tranquil  island,  where  the  world  and 
its  sorrows  can  be  banished  from  the  memory, 
and  where  he  can  forget  even  his  own  "old  self." 
How  delightful  it  would  be,  he  thought,  to  spend 
his  declining  years  amid  these  quiet  Buddhist 
groves !  But  his  old  loyal  self  refused  to  be 
forgotten.  He  was  no  soldier,  so  he  could  take 
no  active  part  in  defending  his  country  against 
the  armies  of  the  conquering  Manchus  ;  but  though 
he  could  not  fight  a  hero's  battles,  he  could  die  a 
hero's  death.  He  waited  long  enough  to  convince 


XIL]  DEATH   OF  WU   CHUNG-LUAN  341 

himself  that  all  reasonable  hope  of  expelling  the 
northern  invaders  was  extinguished,  and  then,  in 
1651,  he  crossed  the  "Sea  of  Water-lilies"  and 
landed  at  the  port  of  Ting-hai,  the  magisterial  city 
of  the  Island  of  Chusan.  Making  his  way  to  the 
Sheng  Miao  (the  "  Confucian  Temple  ")  he  caused  a 
chair  to  be  set  in  the  courtyard,  and  surrounded 
it  with  faggots.  He  then  took  in  his  hands  the 
Confucian  p'ai-wei  (the  wooden  "  spirit-tablets  "  of 
Confucius  and  his  principal  disciples)  and  seated 
himself  in  the  chair.  The  faggots  were  set  alight 
and  Wu  Chung  -  luan,  clasping  the  Confucian 
tablets  to  his  breast,  passed  to  his  patriot's  death.1 
The  monks  of  Puto  suffered  many  hardships 
during  the  troubles  which  convulsed  the  country 
before  the  Manchu  dynasty  consolidated  its  posi 
tion.  Early  in  the  new  reign  (1644-61)  they 
nearly  lost  their  library.  The  story,  if  based  on 
fact,  throws  a  peculiar  light  on  the  methods 
adopted  by  Japanese  Buddhists  to  promote  the 
prosperity  of  their  religion  in  their  own  country. 
Certain  Japanese  monks,  we  are  told,  were  very 
anxious  to  possess  themselves  of  the  Buddhist 
Tripitaka  which,  as  they  knew,  had  been  presented 

1  D.  J.  Macgowan,  in  his  paper  on  "  Self-immolation  by  Fire  "  (Chinese 
Recorder,  Nov.  1888),  refers  to  the  story  of  Wu  Chung  -  luan,  but 
assigns  it  to  the  wrong  period,,  and  is  not  quite  right  in  his  facts.  He 
says  that  Wu  fled  as  a  fugitive  to  Chusan  "to  escape  from  the  T'ai- 
p'ing  rebels"  in  1861,  whereas  the  incident  really  took  place  more  than 
two  centuries  earlier,  and  Wu  died  as  a  loyal  servant  of  the  vanquished 
Ming  dynasty.  He  was  not  the  only  official  of  rank  who  refused  to 
survive  his  fallen  emperor.  No  such  deeds  of  devotion  seem,  so  far  as 
is  known  at  present,  to  have  been  called  forth  by  the  fall  of  the 
Manchu  dynasty. 


342     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF   PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

to  the  monks  of  Puto  by  the  Emperor  Wan-li. 
They   accordingly   hired   a   certain    pirate   named 
Yuan  Chun  to  rob  Puto  of  its  books  and  carry 
them  off  to  Japan.     Having  effected  the  robbery, 
the   pirate   removed   his   booty   to   the   Island   of 
Chusan,   intending   to   sail   thence   to   Japan.     A 
monk  of  Puto  named  Chao-chung  went  to  Chusan 
at  the  head  of  a  large  company  of  his  brethren 
and    implored   the    pirate    to    restore    the    books. 
But  Yuan  treated  him  with  contempt,  and  said 
angrily,   "  If  you  want   your  books,  go  down  to 
the  sea- dragon's  palace  and  ask  him  to  get  them 
back  for  you."     Thereupon  he  set  sail  for  Japan. 
But   a   monstrous    fish  —  was    it    the    sea -dragon 
himself? — got  in  the  way  of  the  vessel  and  pre 
vented  it  from  reaching  the  open  sea.     For  several 
days  Yuan  tried  vainly  to  proceed,  but  the  sea- 
monster  was  too   much  for   him.     Repenting   at 
last  of  his  sacrilegious  act,  he  turned  his  vessel's 
prow  towards  Puto.     The  fish  ceased  to  trouble 
him,  and   the   return  journey  was   made   in   less 
than  half  a  day.     All  the  monks  hastened  down 
to  the  shore  to  meet  him,  and  joyously  resumed 
possession  of  their  holy  books.1 

1  The  Japanese  monks  might  have  pleaded  intensity  of  religious 
zeal  in  extenuation  of  their  felonious  conspiracy.  The  same  excuse 
cannot  be  made  for  certain  would-be  robbers  of  another  monastic 
library— that  of  "Golden  Island,"  at  Chinkiang.  During  one  of  the 
Anglo  -  Chinese  wars  of  the  nineteenth  century  this  library  "was 
found,"  says  Dr  Wells  Williams,  "  by  the  English  officers,  but  there 
was  no  haste  in  examining  its  contents,  as  they  intended  to  have 
carried  off  the  whole  collection,  had  not  peace  prevented"  (The 
Middle  Kingdom,  i.  103). 


XIL]       THE   COMING   OF  THE   RED-HAIRS 

The  worst  calamity  that  ever  befel  the  monks 
of  Puto  and  their  beautiful  temples  did  not  occur 
till  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  K'ang-hsi, 
the  second  emperor  of  the  dynasty ;  and  the  story 
of  the  disaster  is  one  which  no  European  can 
read  without  shame  and  sorrow. 

The  island  Chronicle  tells  us  that  in  the  third 
year  of  the  reign  (1664),  on  New  Year's  Day, 
the  monks  beheld  a  wonderful  rainbow,  which 
seemed  to  rise  from  a  gleaming  temple  roof,  and 
to  extend  across  the  sea  to  a  neighbouring  island, 
"  Little  Puto." l  Suddenly  on  the  bridge  of  glow 
ing  light  appeared  the  radiant  form  of  the  white- 
robed  Kuan-yin,  her  face  turned  away  from  Puto. 
The  vision  faded,  but  the  monks  felt  sure  it  could 
have  only  one  meaning — the  Island  of  the  "  Little 
White  Flower"  was  about  to  suffer  some  terrible 
disaster.  Their  foreboding  came  true  in  the 
following  year. 

In  the  records  of  Puto  Europeans  are  mentioned 
more  than  once,  but  no  attempt  is  made  to  dis 
tinguish  between  the  different  nationalities.  The 
names  applied  to  them  are  Huang-mao  ("  Yellow- 
hairs  "),  or  Hung  -  mao  ("  Red  -  hairs  ").  The  visit 
which  was  attended  with  the  calamitous  results 
now  to  be  narrated  is  described  by  the  chronicler 
with  sufficient  detail  to  enable  us  to  say  with 
out  hesitation  that  the  "Red -hairs"  who  were 

1  This  island^  of  which  the  Chinese  name  is  Hsiao-Loka^  is  the 
island  which  lies  to  the  east  of  Puto.  It  now  possesses  an  important 
lighthouse.  It  contains  four  small  temples.,  named  Miao-chan,  Tzu- 
tsai,  Yuan-tfuug,  and  Kuan-chiao, 


344     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

the   protagonists    in    this    particular   drama   were 
Dutchmen. 

Those  familiar  with  the  history  of  European 
enterprise  in  the  Far  East  will  remember  that  in 
1661  the  Dutch  were  attacked  and  driven  out  of 
their  settlements  in  the  Island  of  Formosa  by  the 
famous  pirate-king  Cheng  Ch'eng  -  kung,  better 
known  as  Koxinga.  The  Puto  Chronicle  gives  us 
an  interesting  glimpse  of  the  manner  in  which 
some  of  the  homeless  Dutchmen  disported  them 
selves  during  the  years  that  followed  their  expul 
sion  from  the  beautiful  island  which  had  been 
their  residence  for  nearly  forty  years. 

"  The  '  Red-hairs '  (it  says)  having  been  driven 
out  of  their  strongholds  (literally  'nests  and  dens'), 
took  to  the  sea  as  plunderers  and  robbers.  In  the 
year  1665,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  fifth  month, 
two  of  their  ships  suddenly  appeared  off  the  coast 
of  Puto.  They  came  ashore,  and  the  monks 
noticed  that  they  had  red-yellowish  hair  and  beards. 
They  had  short  muskets  strapped  to  their  backs, 
and  used  '  fire-stones '  (huo-shih]  to  let  them  off! 
Their  aim  was  unerring.  They  also  had  very 
sharp  cutlasses,  and  were  armed  with  bows  and 
arrows  besides  their  other  weapons.  As  soon  as 
they  came  ashore  they  made  signs  to  signify  that 
they  wanted  food.  They  jabbered  'ha-ha'  and 
uttered  the  one  word  '  cattle  I '  Not  daring  to 
disobey  them,  the  monks  pointed  to  the  hillside 
where  the  cattle  were  grazing,  and  told  the  sailors 
they  could  help  themselves.  Thereupon  they  fired, 
and  killed  several  head.  Next  day  they  came 


XIL]  DUTCH   MARAUDERS  345 

again  and  spoke  words  of  guile,1  saying  that  they 
wished  to  perform  some  act  of  religious  merit ;  but 
having  deceitfully  induced  the  monks  to  go  on 
board  the  ships,  they  proceeded  to  demand  money 
and  valuables  from  them.  Then  they  all  forced 
their  way  into  the  temples  and  destroyed  the 
images  and  dug  the  precious  stones  out  of  them, 
and  seized  the  treasures  which  had  been  accumu 
lating  for  generations,  including  the  imperial  gifts 
of  gilded  Buddhas  and  silver  chalices,  jade  rings, 
sceptres  of  agate  and  coral,  embroideries,  hangings, 
scrolls,  screens,  cushions — not  a  thing  of  any  value 
did  they  leave  behind.  They  broke  open  the 
cupboards  containing  the  sutras  which  had  been 
an  emperor's  gift,  stripped  off  the  cloth  in  which 
the  outside  covers  were  wrapped,  pulled  the  books 
to  pieces,  tied  the  strips  of  cloth  round  their  legs, 
and  on  returning  to  their  ships  tore  them  off  and 
threw  them  into  the  sea.2  They  did  not  sail  away 
until  they  had  desecrated  the  holy  soil  of  Puto 
in  a  way  that  words  cannot  describe.  Not  only 
the  two  great  monasteries,  but  even  the  quiet 
hermitages  in  the  secluded  parts  of  the  island- 
there  was  not  one  of  them  that  escaped  spoliation 
or  destruction  by  fire.  Three  months  later  the 
'  Red-hairs '  returned  and  stole  some  more  cattle. 
When  they  appeared  for  a  third  time  the  monks 
all  cut  down  trees  and  furnished  themselves  with 
spears  with  the  intention  of  fighting  the  pirates ; 
but  on  this  occasion  the  '  Red-hairs '  did  not  come 
ashore.  Alas !  for  the  sacred  home  of  our  Pusa ! 

1  Presumably  they  brought    an    interpreter  with    them    on    this 
occasion. 

2  Of  the  books  themselves,  the  vast  majority  appear  to  have  been 
saved.     See  p.  339, 


346    MONASTIC   HISTORY  OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

To  be  trampled  and  defiled,  robbed  and  desecrated 
— such  was  the  fate  of  our  holy  island."  l 

This  is  not  a  very  pleasant  picture  of  the 
manner  in  which  Europeans  and  Chinese,  or 
Christians  and  Buddhists,  became  acquainted  with 
one  another.  Unfortunately  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  narrative.  It  occurs 
only  in  an  obscure  monastic  Chronicle,  and  was 
certainly  not  written  with  the  vain  object  of 
stirring  up  popular  indignation  against  foreigners. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  exaggerating 
the  actual  facts. 

There  are  many  pages  in  the  history  of  Western 
relations  with  China  which  we  Europeans  cannot 
read  without  shame.  We  do  well,  however,  to 
turn  back  to  such  pages  from  time  to  time,  if  only 
for  the  purpose  of  reminding  ourselves  that  the 
Chinese  in  the  days  of  their  haughty  exclusiveness 
were  not  wholly  unjustified  in  their  belief  that 
their  Western  visitors  were  barbarians  or  devils. 

What  happened  to  the  Dutchmen  after  their 
heroic  encounter  with  defenceless  monks  at  Puto 
seems  to  be  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  One 
account  says  that  they  went  off  to  Japan  to  sell 
their  booty,  for  which  they  received  large  sums  of 
money,  and  that  on  their  homeward  journey  their 
ship  caught  fire  and  was  lost  with  every  man  on 
board.2  This  story  may  be  regarded  as  ben  trovato  ; 
one  of  the  ships,  at  any  rate,  seems  to  have  reached 

1  P(u-t(o-shan-chih,  iii.  1-2,  vi.  6-7^  xiii.  4. 

2  Ibid.,  vi,  7. 


XIL]  DEPARTURE   OF  THE  MONKS  347 

its  destination  in  safety,  as  we  learn  from  a  curious 
story  about  a  stolen  bell,  to  which  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  refer  in  the  next  chapter. 

Harried  as  they  were  by  pirates  —  Japanese, 
Chinese,  and  European,  the  monks  clung  bravely  to 
their  devastated  island  until  1671,  when  the  Govern 
ment  compelled  them  once  more  to  migrate  to  the 
mainland.  After  this,  Puto  was  abandoned  to 
solitude  and  decay  for  a  period  of  about  seventeen 
years.  The  Chronicle  gives  us  but  few  glimpses  of 
the  island  during  that  time,  and  they  reveal  a  state 
of  utter  desolation.  Two  little  stories  indicate 
pathetic  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  monks  to 
convince  themselves  or  others  that  in  spite  of  all 
appearances  to  the  contrary  the  "Little  White 
Flower  "  was  still  under  some  kind  of  divine  pro 
tection.  One  of  these  stories  tells  us  that  during 
this  period  of  decay  some  robbers  landed  on  the 
island  and  made  a  fire  inside  one  of  the  deserted 
pavilions  with  the  object  of  melting  down  a  metal 
image  of  Kuan  -  yin  which  they  found  there. 
Suddenly  the  pavilion  itself  caught  fire,  and  many 
of  the  sacrilegious  robbers,  who  for  some  obscure 
reason  found  themselves  unable  to  escape,  were 
burned  to  death.  The  other  story  tells  us  that 
a  fleet  of  war-junks  anchored  off  the  island  and 
landed  a  large  number  of  plunderers,  who  made 
their  way  to  a  Ta-shih-tien  (a  "  Hall  of  the  Pusa  "). 
After  working  their  wicked  will  there  they  came 
forth,  and  suddenly  found  themselves  confronted 
by  innumerable  poisonous  serpents,  which  opened 


348     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

their  mouths  and  hissed.  The  terrified  plunderers 
turned  and  tried  to  run  away,  but  they  were  at 
once  met  by  a  pack  of  savage  dogs.  Escape  was 
impossible — wild  dogs  were  in  front,  poisonous 
serpents  were  behind.  Many  of  the  men  perished 
miserably,  and  others  were  grievously  injured. 

Puto,  like  Ireland,  prides  itself  on  the  fact  that 
it  possesses  no  poisonous  snakes :  Kuan-yin,  like 
a  Buddhist  St  Patrick,  drove  them  all  away.  The 
appearance  of  serpents  on  this  occasion  means, 
therefore,  that  they  were  miraculously  introduced 
for  the  express  purpose  of  punishing  those  who  had 
been  guilty  of  sacrilege.  It  is  not  impossible  that 
in  this  story  there  is  preserved  an  old  fragment  of 
Oriental  folk-lore.  Serpents  (sometimes  in  the 
form  of  dragons)  have  been  regarded,  in  both  China 
and  Japan,  as  the  specially-appointed  guardians  of 
all  holy  shrines.  In  the  Nihongi — the  well-known 
Japanese  Chronicle — there  is  a  legend  which  tells 
us  what  happened  to  the  emperor  Yuriaku,  who, 
in  the  year  463  of  our  era,  proposed  to  pay  a  visit 
to  the  temple  of  the  god  of  Mount  Mimoro.  He 
irreverently  omitted  to  submit  himself  to  the  usual 
preliminary  rites  of  ceremonial  purification,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  as  he  drew  near  the  shrine 
he  was  suddenly  met  by  a  serpent  of  most  ferocious 
aspect.  The  emperor  was  glad  to  be  allowed  to 
run  away  and  hide  himself  in  his  palace,  and 
his  proposed  visit  to  the  god  was  indefinitely 
postponed. 

Puto  resumed  the  normal  course  of  its  history 


A   PILGRIMS'   PATHWAY,   PUTO. 


i 


- 


THE   LOTUS-POND   OF  THE    "SOUTHERN   MONASTERY.' 


{Facing  p.  348. 


XIL]          RESTORATION   OF   MONASTERIES          349 

in  1688,  when  a  military  officer  of  high  rank, 
named  Huang  Ta-lai,  submitted  a  memorial  to 
the  throne,  in  which  he  reported  the  lamentable 
state  of  desolation  to  which  the  holy  island  had 
been  reduced,  and  begged  his  Majesty  to  assist 
the  forlorn  monks  to  re-establish  the  glory  of  their 
old  home.  The  result  was  entirely  satisfactory, 
and  K'ang-hsi  took  so  keen  an  interest  in  the  work 
of  restoration  that  in  a  few  years'  time  the  temples 
and  monasteries  of  Puto  had  recovered  all  their 
old  prosperity,  and  the  smoke  of  incense  once 
more  curled  upwards  from  the  altars  of  Kuan-yin. 

The  abbot  of  the  "  Southern  Monastery,"  during 
the  early  years  of  the  rebuilding,  was  an  able  and 
zealous  monk  named  Ch'ao-yin,  and  it  was  largely 
owing  to  his  energy  that  the  temples  rose  again 
from  their  ashes.1  It  was  under  his  influence,  we 
are  told,  that  the  island  abandoned  the  Lii  (  Vinaya) 
in  favour  of  the  Ch'an  (  Jhana)  rule  ;  2  but  this 
statement  requires  qualification,  for  the  Ch'an 
school  had  been  introduced  into  the  monasteries 
of  Puto  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century.3  The 
probability  is  that  both  the  Lii  and  the  Ch'an 
schools  were  represented  in  the  island  during  the 
intervening  centuries,  and  that  the  supremacy  lay 
sometimes  with  the  one  and  sometimes  with  the 
other.  There  appears  to  be  no  doubt,  however, 
that  since  the  days  of  Abbot  Ch'ao-yin  the  island 


3  See  above  j  p.  333. 


350     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF   PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

of  Puto  has  been  entirely  under  the  sway  of  the 
Lin-chi  sect  of  the  Ch'an  school. 

Ch'ao-yin's  efforts  might  have  been  of  small 
avail  had  he  not  enjoyed  the  powerful  friendship 
and  support  of  Puto's  principal  lay  benefactor — a 
noted  general  named  JLan  Li  (1649-1719) — whose 
religious  zeal  was  probably  stimulated  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  year  1690  the  patron  pusa  of  the  island 
appeared  to  him  in  a  vision  at  the  Fan-yin  Cave.1 
General  Lan  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  lay  saints 
of  Puto,  and  a  shrine  was  erected  to  him  on  the 
island  after  his  death.  He  is  regarded  as  a  hu-fa 
("  defender  of  the  faith  ") ;  and  the  monks  of  Puto, 
remembering  that  he  had  been  noted  during  his 
life  for  his  enormous  physical  strength  and  his 
reckless  courage,  elevated  him  to  the  position  of 
ghostly  champion  of  the  Puto  monkhood. 

The  benefactions  of  the  great  Emperor  K'ang-hsi 
commenced  with  a  gift  of  money  in  1689.  In  1696 
he  presented  each  of  the  two  great  monasteries 
with  a  portion  of  the  Diamond  Sutra  written  by 
his  own  hand.2  In  subsequent  years  he  gave 
generous  donations  in  money  and  valuables,  images, 
altar  -  hangings,  robes,  embroideries,  autograph 
scrolls,  beads  which  had  been  "told"  by  the 
imperial  fingers,  and  further  portions  of  the 
scriptures  written  with  the  imperial  brush.3  Most  of 

1  Chih,  vi.  8. 


2 


3  It  has  been  the  practice  of  many  emperors  to  prove  their  religious 
zeal  by  copying  out  portions  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures.  A  similar 
custom  seems  to  have  been  known  outside  China.  Aurangzeb,  one  of 


XIL]  EDICT   OF   K'ANG-HSI  351 

these  treasures  are  still  preserved  in  the  "  Northern  " 
and  "  Southern  "  monasteries.  In  1699,  as  we  have 
seen,1  he  presented  the  newly-restored  "  Southern 
Monastery"  with  an  autograph  pien  and  a  new 
name — that  which  it  has  borne  ever  since.  In 
1705  an  envoy  arrived  at  Puto  with  an  imperial 
edict,  which  was  immediately  transferred  to  a 
stone  tablet.  This  tablet  is  one  of  those  which 
still  stands  in  the  Yii-pei-t'ang — the  front  hall  of 
the  P'u-chi  Monastery.2 

In  this  interesting  edict  the  emperor  refers 
briefly  to  the  history  and  traditions  of  Puto  and 
to  the  cruel  treatment  it  had  received  from  the 
pirates  of  the  Formosan  seas.  He  describes  how 
the  island  had  been  abandoned  for  several  years 
in  consequence  of  these  outrages,  and  how  at  last 
a  few  monks  returned  to  it,  and  set  to  work  to 
cut  down  the  jungle  growths  and  clear  away  the 
brambles,  and  to  trace  out  the  foundations  of  the 
old  buildings. 

"We"  (says  the  emperor,  if  we  may  render 
his  own  words  in  a  slightly  abbreviated  form), 
"  chanced  at  this  time  to  be  in  Western  Chehkiang, 
and  despatched  a  special  emissary  to  inaugurate 
the  work  of  restoration  and  to  make  ceremonial 
offerings.  We  bestowed  gifts  of  gold  from  the 
State  treasury,  that  the  temples  might  be  restored 
to  splendour,  and  that  their  cloisters  and  colonnades 

the  Mughal  emperors  of  India,  who  ascended  the  throne  at  Delhi  in 
1659  and  died  in  1707,  and  therefore  reigned  contemporaneously 
with  Kfang-hsi,  twice  copied  out  the  whole  Qur'an. 

1  See  above,  p.  331.  2  See  above,  pp.  328-9. 


352     MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN        [CH. 

might  be  made  lustrous  and  glorious  with  scarlet 
and  jade.  The  stone  and  timber  have  all  been 
provided  at  State  expense :  Our  subjects  have 
not  been  called  upon  to  furnish  either  labour 
or  material.  All  this  We  have  done  in  the  first 
place  from  motives  of  filial  piety,1  and  in  the 
second  place  that  happiness  and  prosperity  might 
be  granted  by  the  divine  Powers  to  all  Our  people. 
We,  since  Our  boyhood,  have  been  earnest  students 
of  Confucian  lore,  with  the  constant  aim  of  learn 
ing  the  proper  duties  of  a  good  ruler.  We  have 
had  no  leisure  to  become  minutely  acquainted  with 
the  sacred  books  of  Buddhism  :  therefore  We  are 
not  qualified  to  discuss  the  deeper  mysteries  of  that 
faith.  But  We  are  satisfied  that  "  Virtue  "  is  the 
one  word  which  indicates  what  is  essential  in  both 
systems.  We  find,  moreover,  that  heaven  delights 
to  give  life  and  nourishment ;  the  gracious  and 
compassionate  Pusa  loves  to  bring  all  living 
creatures  to  salvation.  The  one  creates,  the  other 
saves  :  but  there  is  no  antagonism,  no  divergence 
of  aim.  We,  Heaven's  suppliant,  have  obtained 
the  boon  of  a  long  reign.  We  have  ruled  the 
empire  for  over  forty  years.2  Now  arms  have 
been  laid  aside ;  the  empire  is  at  peace.  We 
know,  nevertheless,  that  Our  people  are  not  yet 
free  from  cares  and  sorrows.  Their  sufferings 
come  not  only  from  the  imperfections  of  their 
own  natures,  but  also  from  the  caprices  of  fortune 
and  other  circumstances  for  which  they  are  in  no 
way  to  blame.  How  to  promote  Our  people's 
welfare  is  a  problem  which  brings  Us  many  wistful 

1  That  is,  as  a  votive  offering  on  behalf  of  the  empress-dowager. 

2  K'ang-hsi  died  in  1722,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  reign. 


XIL]         RELIGIOUS   POLICY   OF   K'ANG-HSI         353 

thoughts  and  anxious  dreams.  Let  us  pray  to 
the  compassionate  Kuan-yin,  that  she  may  of  her 
grace  send  down  upon  Our  people  the  spiritual 
rain  and  sweet  dew  of  the  Good  Law ;  that  she 
may  grant  Our  people  bounteous  harvests,  season 
able  winds,  and  the  blessings  of  peace,  harmony, 
and  long  life ;  and,  finally,  that  she  may  lead 
them  to  the  salvation  which  she  offers  to  all 
beings  in  the  universe.1  Such  are  the  wishes  of 
Our  heart.  Let  what  Our  hand  has  written  be 
engraved  upon  a  lofty  tablet,  that  Our  decree  may 
be  transmitted  to  posterity." 

Thus  did  the  largest  -  hearted  and  largest- 
minded  of  the  Manchu  emperors  signify  his 
gracious  goodwill  towards  Puto  and  his  respect 
for  its  patron  saint.  As  the  imperial  pillar  of 
Confucian  orthodoxy  he  was  often  obliged  to 
pose  in  his  public  utterances  as  the  denouncer 
of  all  false  or  heretical  doctrines,  and  among 
such  doctrines  rigid  Confucianists  do  not  hesitate 
to  class  Buddhism.  But  this  great  ruler  was  no 
tyrant  and  no  bigot,  as  even  the  Catholic  priests 
who  frequented  his  Court — themselves  bigots  of 
an  almost  fanatical  type — were  obliged  gratefully 
to  acknowledge.  Though  he  became  a  convert 
neither  to  Buddhism  nor  to  Christianity,  he 
treated  both  Buddhist  monks  and  Jesuit  priests 
with  a  princely  tolerance  and  magnanimity  which, 

1  There  is  nothing  in  the  Chinese  to  show  what  view  the  emperor 
took  with  regard  to  the  question  of  Kuan-yin's  sex.  It  would  be  more 
correct,  probably,  to  assume  that  in  this  prayer  the  pusa  is  the  male 
AvalokitesVara. 

Z 


354    MONASTIC   HISTORY   OF  PUTO-SHAN       [CH. 

in  addition  to  his  other  fine  qualities  of  states 
manship,  give  him  a  strong  claim  to  be  regarded 
as  the  wisest  and  best  ruler  of  his  age,  and  as 
one  of  the  finest  imperial  embodiments  of  the 
ideals  of  Chinese  civilization. 

The  next  important  building  operations  at 
Puto  were  undertaken  during  the  reign  of  Yung- 
cheng  (1723  -  35),  a  not  unworthy  successor 
of  the  great  K'ang  -  hsi.  Both  the  "  Southern  " 
and  "Northern"  monasteries  underwent  partial 
reconstruction  at  this  time,  and  the  work  (which 
was  completed  in  1733)  was  done  under  the 
emperor's  patronage  and  with  his  support. 
One  of  the  local  officials,  a  Cantonese  named 
Huang  Ying  -  hsiung,  was  ordered  to  visit  the 
island  from  time  to  time  and  report  the  progress 
of  the  work.  He  wrote  an  excellent  topographical 
account  of  the  island,  and  in  it  he  makes  an 
interesting  reference  to  the  emperor's  benignant 
toleration  of  the  "three  religions."1  He  remarks 
that  his  Majesty  had  provided  for  the  repair  not 
only  of  the  Buddhist  temples  at  Puto,  but  also 
of  the  great  Confucian  temple  at  Ch'ii-fou,  in 
Shantung,  and  the  great  Taoist  temple  on  the 
"Dragon-Tiger  Mountains"  in  Kiangsi.2 

No  severe  calamities  have  befallen  the  island 
or  its  monasteries  since  the  reigns  of  K'ang-hsi 

1  El  £  H  &  $&  ^.     Chih,  xvi.  66 /. 

2  Chfii-fou    is  the  little   town  in  Shantung  which  possesses  the 
principal  Confucian  temple  in  the  empire.      The  sage  himself  lies  buried 
in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  the  K/ung  family  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
(see  above,  p.  135).    The  "  Dragon-Tiger  Mountains  "  (Lung-hu-shan)  are 
in  Kiangsi,,  and  there,  in  the  temple  known  as  the  Shang-chfing-kung, 
resides  the  hereditary  "  Pope  "  of  the  Taoists. 


XIL]  THE   EMPRESS-DOWAGER  355 

and  Yung-cheng.  Restorations  and  renovations 
have  been  undertaken  as  occasion  required  from 
time  to  time,  and  several  of  the  later  emperors 
of  the  Manchu  line — including  the  great  Ch'ien- 
lung  —  took  a  practical  interest  in  the  monks 
and  their  fortunes.  Among  these  sovereigns 
must  also  be  included  the  ill  -  omened  woman 
who  through  the  pitiable  misuse  of  her  unrivalled 
opportunities  must  be  held  mainly  responsible 
for  the  ignominious  collapse  of  the  most  ancient 
of  imperial  thrones.  Her  favourite  method  of 
signifying  her  august  good  -  will  towards  Puto 
was  a  peculiar  one:  it  was  to  enthrone  herself 
among  water-lilies,  and  pretend  that  she  was 
the  divine  Kuan  -  yin  emerging  gracefully  from 
the  sea.  It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impos 
sible,  to  find  a  more  thoroughly  inappropriate 
representative  of  the  tender  and  compassionate 
"  Goddess  of  Mercy  "  than  the  terrible  old  woman 
who  threw  an  emperor's  favourite  consort  down 
a  well,  who  went  for  a  picnic  on  the  palace  lake 
while  her  minions  were  trying  to  massacre  the 
stranger  within  her  gates,  and  who  could  find  no 
better  reason  for  ordering  a  temporary  cessation 
of  the  bombardment  of  a  foreign  church  than 
that  it  gave  her  a  headache.1 

1  See  Ghina  under  the  Empress-dowager,  by  Bland  and  Backhouse,, 
pp.  288  and  300.  Facing  p.  454  of  that  work  and  pp.  284  and  316  of 
Mr  P.  W.  Sergeant's  The  Great  Empress  Dowager,  may  be  seen  photo 
graphs  of  the  imperial  lady  in  the  unbecoming  guise  of  ' c  The  Pusa 
Kuan-yin  of  Puto-shan."  The  picture  is  not  redeemed  by  the  fact 
that  one  of  her  masquerading  attendants  is  the  notorious  eunuch, 
Li  Lien-ying. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE  "  NORTHERN  MONASTERY  "  AND 
"  BUDDHA'S  PEAK  " 

HITHERTO  our  attention  has  been  directed  mainly 
to  the  history  of  the  P'u-chi-ssu — the  "  Monastery 
of  Universal  Salvation  "  ;  but  though  it  is  the  older 
of  the  two  great  religious  houses  of  the  island, 
it  is  equalled,  or  indeed  surpassed,  in  size,  and  it 
is  far  excelled  in  beauty,  by  the  Fa-yu-ssu,  or 
"Monastery  of  the  Rain  of  the  Law."1 

On  both  sides  of  the  winding  path  that  leads 
from  the  southern  to  the  northern  part  of  the 
island  are  many  temples,  grottoes,  and  small 
monasteries,  each  of  which  possesses  its  special 
attractions  and  its  own  stock  of  legends.  These 
little  centres  of  Buddhist  worship  we  must 
regretfully  pass  by,  though  no  pilgrim  will  omit 
to  visit  the  Fa-hua-ling-tung  (the  "  Holy  Grotto 
of  the  Flower  of  the  Law"),  celebrated  for  its 
inscribed  and  caverned  rocks,  its  magic  pools, 
and  its  rich  and  varied  foliage.  Beyond  the 
"holy  grotto"  is  a  "fairy  well,"  and  close  by  it 

1  On  account  of  their  relative  positions  the  Pfu-chi,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  known  as  the  Ch'ien-ssu,  or  ' '  Southern  Monastery/'  the  Fa-yii 
as  the  Hou-ssti  or  "Northern  Monastery." 

356 


CH.  XIIL]  ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS  357 

is  a  temple  (the  Ch'ao-yang)  built  over  a  cave 
which  pilgrims  are  recommended  by  the  monks 
to  visit  in  the  early  morning.  It  contains  an 
eastward-facing  window,  through  which  they  are 
invited  to  contemplate  the  rising  sun.  In  this 
neighbourhood  are  to  be  seen  numerous  inscrip 
tions  which  have  been  carved  on  the  rocks  and 
boulders  of  the  sloping  hillside.  One  of  these 
inscriptions  consists  of  the  five  boldly -carved 
characters  Chung-kuo  yu  sheng-jen  ("  China  has 
its  sages").  This  is  a  truth  which  is  perhaps 
rather  apt  to  be  lost  sight  of  to-day.  A  pathetic 
little  record  is  that  left  by  a  visitor  as  recently 
as  1910 — Tieh-nien  ch'ung  tao  ("Revisited  in 
old  age ").  Of  greater  religious  significance  are 
the  words  of  the  well-known  Tibetan  charm  Om 
mane  padme  horn,  written  in  Chinese  characters, 
and  the  orthodox  Chinese  Buddhist's  Teng-pi  an 
("Cross  to  the  other  shore"),  and  Ta-ti  chung 
sheng  ch'eng  Fo  ("May  all  beings  throughout  the 
world  become  Buddha"). 

We  are  now  on  the  rising  ground — the  Chi- 
pao-ling —  which  forms  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  longest  and  finest  beach  in  Puto,  the 
"Sands  of  a  Thousand  Paces,"1  described  by  a 
Chinese  poet  as  "  yellow  as  powdered  gold,  soft 
as  moss."  The  mile  of  roadway  which  leads  us 
from  this  point  to  the  Fa-yii  Monastery  is  known 
as  the  Yli-t'ang  Road,  in  commemoration  of  a 
monk  of  the  Wan-li  period  (1573-1619)  who 

1  Ch(ien-pu-aha. 


358          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"          fcH. 

bore  that  name  and  was  mainly  responsible  for 
its  construction.  Passing  by  clusters  of  small 
monasteries  and  temples,  some  quite  recently 
founded  or  restored,  we  reach  the  Fa-yu-ssii, 
delightfully  situated  near  the  northern  end  of 
the  long  beach  and  under  the  shadow  of  the 
tree  -  clad  hill  which  culminates  in  "  Buddha's 
Peak."  The  immediate  surroundings  of  this  fine 
monastery  are  of  great  beauty,  and  the  build 
ings  themselves  are,  of  their  kind,  unsurpassed 
in  Buddhist  China.  The  lotus  -  pond,  with  its 
picturesque  bridge,  is  one  which  would  not 
disgrace  the  noblest  of  English  parks ;  and  the 
central  halls,  with  their  curved  eaves  and 
timbered  roofs,  the  marble  balustrades  and  grace 
ful  pavilions,  and  the  fine  old  trees  which  cast 
a  religious  shade  over  the  spacious  courtyards, 
combine  to  make  the  monastery  of  the  "  Rain 
of  the  Law "  one  of  the  most  majestic  and 
attractive,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  peaceful 
and  sequestered,  of  Chinese  monastic  dwellings.1 
To  follow  in  detail  the  history  of  the  Fa-yii 
Monastery  is  unnecessary,  as  the  story  would  be 
little  more  than  a  repetition  of  that  already  told 
in  connection  with  the  sister-monastery.  Though 
the  younger  of  the  two,  the  Fa-yii  since  its 
foundation  has  shared  all  the  fortunes,  good  and 
bad,  of  the  elder,  and  tokens  of  imperial  favour 
have  been  showered  upon  it  with  an  equally 

1  It  was  within  this  monastery  that  the  author   resided  during 
his  two  visits  to  Puto. 


THE  YU-T<ANG   ROAD,   SHOWING   ROCK-CARVED 
FIGURES. 


THE  LOTUS-POND  OF  THE   NORTHERN   MONASTERY. 


[Facing  p.  358. 


xiii.]     "NORTHERN  MONASTERY"  FOUNDED    359 

liberal  hand.  According  to  the  chronicle,  a 
monastic  building  was  first  erected  on  this  site 
in  the  year  1580.  The  founder  was  a  far-travelled 
monk  named  Ta-chih  ("  Great  Wisdom "),  who 
set  out  on  pilgrimage  from  the  holy  mountain 
of  Omei,  where  he  founded  two  temples,  and 
who,  after  visiting  Wu-t'ai  and  many  other  sacred 
places  in  northern  and  central  China,  arrived  at 
last  at  Puto.  Here  he  decided  to  spend  his 
remaining  years.  The  story  goes  that  he  offered 
up  prayer  at  the  Ch'ao-yin  and  Fan-yin  caves 
for  divine  guidance  as  to  the  selection  of  a  site 
for  the  hermitage  which  he  proposed  to  found, 
and  that  shortly  afterwards,  while  he  was  walking 
on  the  beach  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Ch'ien- 
pu  Sands,  a  long  bamboo  pole  was  washed  up 
by  the  tide  at  his  feet.  Regarding  this  as 
Kuan-yin's  answer  to  his  prayers,  he  set  to  work 
to  put  up  a  little  building  close  to  the  spot 
where  he  had  seen  the  bamboo  pole ;  and  in 
commemoration  of  the  incident  which  led  to  the 
choice  of  this  site  he  gave  his  foundation  the 
name  of  the  "  Hermitage  of  the  Tide-waves."1 

Ta-chih  died  in  1592.  Two  years  later  the 
little  hermitage,  which  had  grown  in  size  and 
importance,  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  ssu — 
a  "  monastery".  In  1598  it  was  destroyed  by  fire. 
In  1605  it  was  rebuilt  on  a  splendid  scale  by 
two  monks  named  Ju-shou  and  Ju-kuang,  under 
the  munificent  patronage  of  the  emperor 

1  Hai-ch' ao-an. 


360          THE   "NORTHERN  MONASTERY"          [OH. 

Wan-li,  who  in  the  following  year  bestowed 
upon  it  the  new  name  of  Chen  -  hai  -  ch'an  -  ssu 
("Ocean-guardian  Jhana  Monastery").  In  1643 
it  was  again  partially  destroyed  by  fire;  and  in 
1665  it  shared  in  the  ruin  brought  upon  all  the 
religious  houses  in  the  island  by  the  Dutch 
marauders. 

In  connection  with  that  episode  the  annals 
of  the  monastery  tell  an  interesting  story  about 
the  loss  of  its  great  bell.  This  bell  was  cast 
by  the  founder  of  the  monastery,  Ta-chih,  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
"  Red-hairs "  carried^  it  off  as  part  of  their  loot, 
and  succeeded  in  safely  conveying  it  to  the 
gateway  of  their  capital  in  "the  country  of 
Europe."  There,  however,  it  fell  down,  and, 
owing  to  its  great  weight,  was  left  lying  where 
it  fell.  Gradually  sinking  into  the  soft  ground, 
it  at  last  disappeared  altogether,  and  was  forgotten. 
But  in  1723  a  sound  like  the  rolling  of  thunder 
was  suddenly  heard  coming  from  the  ground ; 
whereupon  the  amazed  people  of  the  neighbour 
hood  dug  up  the  ground  and  discovered  the  bell. 

Somehow  or  other  these  events  came  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  monastic  authorities.  The 
abbot  of  the  monastery  at  the  time  of  the  dis 
covery  of  the  bell  was  one  Fa-tse,  who  happened 
to  be  a  native  of  Fuhkien,  and  was  acquainted  with 
many  merchants  who  were  engaged  in  foreign 
trade.  Through  these  merchants  negotiations 
were  opened  with  "  the  country  of  Europe  "  with 


xiii.]  THE   STORY   OF   A   BELL  361 

a  view  to  the  recovery  of  the  long-lost  bell.  The 
negotations  ended  successfully,  and  in  the  year 
1728  it  was  brought  back  to  China  and  landed  at 
Namoa  Island,  near  the  port  of  Swatow,  in  the 
Canton  province.  Difficulties  as  to  its  reshipnient 
were  not  overcome  till  1733,  which  by  a  happy 
coincidence  was  the  year  which  witnessed  the  com 
pletion  of  a  restoration  of  the  monastery  under  the 
auspices  of  K'ang-hsi's  son,  the  emperor  Yung- 
cheng.  To  the  great  joy  and  wonder  of  the 
monks,  the  bell  was  finally  disembarked  at  Puto 
on  the  thirtieth  day  of  the  tenth  month,  at  the 
very  time  when  a  solemn  service  was  being  held 
in  the  great  hall  of  the  monastery  to  celebrate  his 
Majesty's  birthday. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  story  as 
thus  told  in  the  annals  of  the  monastery  is  sub 
stantially  true;  but  it  seems  improbable  that  the 
monks  were  correct  in  their  belief  that  the  bell 
had  actually  been  conveyed  to  Europe.  The 
Chinese  of  those  days  had  very  vague  ideas  of 
geography,  and  the  monks  of  Puto  had  evidently 
no  very  distinct  knowledge  of  the  political  divisions 
of  the  "  country  of  Europe."  Perhaps  the  bell  did 
not  make  quite  so  long  a  journey  as  they  supposed. 
The  suggestion  may  be  hazarded  that  its  resting- 
place  during  the  period  from  1665  to  1723  was  no 
European  town,  but  a  city  of  the  Island  of  Java. 
Batavia  was  then,  as  it  is  still,  the  capital  of  the 
Dutch  East  Indies,  and  though  its  old  ramparts 
no  longer  exist,  it  was  a  strong  walled  town  in  the 


362          THE   "NORTHERN  MONASTERY"          [CH. 

seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Possibly 
the  Chinese  story  of  the  fall  of  the  bell  at  the 
gates  of  the  city,  and  its  subsequent  disappearance 
until  its  presence  underground  was  revealed  by 
a  sound  like  rolling  thunder,  is  based  on  the 
historical  fact  that  in  1699  Batavia  was  visited  by 
a  destructive  earthquake.  Thus  the  real  course  of 
events  may  have  been  something  like  this:  the 
bell  was  carried  from  Puto  to  Java  in  1665 ;  it 
was  suspended  in  a  tower  on  the  wall  of  the  city 
of  Batavia;  it  remained  there  till  1699,  when  the 
wall  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  ;  it  lay  buried 
under  the  ruins  of  the  wall  until  1723 ;  and  in  that 
year,  after  it  had  disappeared  from  view  for  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  removal  of  the  debris 
restored  it  to  the  light  of  day.  The  inscription 
on  the  bell,  we  may  suppose,  was  read  by  Chinese 
residents  in  Java,  who  learned  thereby  the  name  of 
the  monastery  to  which  it  originally  belonged. 
Through  them  the  story  may  easily  have  come  to 
the  ears  of  the  Chinese  merchants  of  Fuhkien, 
who  at  that  time  controlled  a  large  proportion 
of  China's  foreign  trade. 

The  joy  of  the  monks  at  the  return  of  their 
founder's  bell  was  tempered  by  their  discovery  of 
the  melancholy  fact  that  it  was  no  longer  in  a  fit 
condition  to  serve  its  proper  purpose.  It  had  been 
cracked  and  injured  to  such  an  extent  that  before 
the  hearts  of  monks  and  pilgrims  could  again  be 
thrilled  by  its  mellow  tones  it  had  to  be  put 
through  the  process  of  recasting.  This  work  was 


XIIL]  THE   ABBOT  PIEH-AN  363 

not  carried  out  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  It 
hung  silently  in  its  tower  till  1825,  when  a  wealthy 
pilgrim  named  Hsu,  having  interested  himself  in 
its  history,  undertook  to  defray  the  cost  of  having 
it  recast.  It  is  the  bell  of  Ta-chih,  originally  cast 
before  the  year  1592,  but  re-cast  in  or  shortly 
after  the  year  1825  by  the  pilgrim  Hsu,  that 
hangs  to-day  in  the  bell-tower  of  the  "Northern 
Monastery." 

The  most  revered   of  all   the   abbots   of  this 
monastery  is   neither   Ta-chih   nor   Fa-tse,  but  a 
remarkable  man  named  Pieh-an.1     He  was  a  native 
of  Ssuch'uan,  but  became  abbot  of  the  "  Northern 
Monastery  "of  Puto  in  1687,  and  remained  there 
until  his  death  in  the   last  year  of  the  century. 
The  buildings  had  been  in  a  ruinous  and  neglected 
condition   ever   since  the   disastrous   visit  of  the 
"  Red-hairs  "  in  1665,  and  to  Pieh-an  fell  the  task  of 
superintending  their  reconstruction.     In  the  annals 
of  his   monastery  he   occupies  a  place  somewhat 
analogous  to  that   of  Ch'ao-yin  in  the  annals  of 
the   sister  -  monastery.2     Both   were   distinguished 
ornaments  of  the  Ch'an  school,  both  were  largely 
instrumental  in  interesting  the  emperor  and  other 
influential  personages  in  the  fortunes  of  Puto,  and 
both  are  looked  upon   as  re-founders  of  their  re 
spective  monasteries.     It  is  Pieh-an,  indeed,  rather 
than   Ta-chih,  who   is  regarded  by  the  fraternity 
of  the  "  Northern  Monastery  "  as  their  spiritual 

1  His  alternative  name  was  Hsing-t'ung. 

2  See  above,  p.  349. 


364          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

"  ancestor  "  (t'ung  tsu)  ;  for  Ta-chih  belonged  to 
the  Lii  school,  whereas  Pieh-an  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Lin-chi  subdivision  of  the  Ch'an 
school — the  subdivision  which  to  this  day  claims  the 
allegiance  of  the  monks  of  Puto.  One  of  Pieh-an's 
minor  titles  to  the  gratitude  of  posterity  rests  on 
the  fact  that  he  was  responsible  for  the  casting  of 
the  enormous  caldron  which  is  the  pride  of  the 
monastic  kitchen  ; 1  but  his  fame  is  built  upon 
foundations  of  a  more  durable,  or  at  least  a  more 
spiritual,  kind  than  a  mere  cooking-pot.  He  was 
a  voluminous  writer  on  religious  subjects.  Among 
his  best  -  known  works  was  a  continuation  of  a 
well-known  collection  of  Lives  of  Buddhist  Saints.2 
He  had  many  friends  among  the  cultured  laity, 
and  one  of  them,  a  distinguished  Confucian  scholar 
and  statesman  named  Yang  Yung-chien  (1631- 
1704),  wrote  his  epitaph.3  His  spiritual  authority 
shows  no  signs  of  eclipse  in  these  degenerate  days. 
One  of  the  most  important  "  saints'  days "  in 
the  calendar  of  the  monks  of  the  "Northern 
Monastery  "  is  the  day  on  which  reverence  is  paid 
to  the  memory,  and  incense  burned  before  the 
"  spirit-tablet,"  of  the  "  patriarch  "  Pieh-an.4 

1  A  full  description  of  the  casting  of  this  vessel  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Chih,xvi.  38  /. 

2  See  Chili,  xvi.  16/.,  41  /.,  54  /. 

3  Chihy  xvi.  45.     The  epitaph  is  interesting  on  account  of  its  tolerant 
and  sympathetic  remarks  on  Buddhism  hy  one  who  avowed  himself  to 
be  a  strict  Confucian. 

4  In  the  second  year  of  Hsiian-t'ung  (1910)  the  "  winter  sacrifice" 
to  Pieh-an  fell  on  the  twenty  -  third  day   of  the  eleventh  month — 
Christmas  Eve. 


xm.]      "THE   RAIN   OF  THE   GOOD   LAW"        365 

In  1699,  as  we  know,  the  Emperor  K'ang-hsi 
bestowed  a  new  name  on  the  "  Southern  Mon 
astery."1  He  simultaneously  conferred  a  similar 
favour  on  the  "  Northern  Monastery "  by  giving 
it  the  name  which  it  has  borne  ever  since — Fa-yil 
Ch'an-ssu — the  "  Jhana  Monastery  of  the  Rain  of 
the  Law."  A  brief  reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  meaning  of  this  name.2  The  "  rain  " 
is  the  rain  of  the  "good  Law  of  Buddha,"  which 
infinite  myriads  of  saviour-bodhisats,  who  are  "  the 
clouds  of  the  Law,"  graciously  send  down  to  earth 
in  order  to  lay  the  dust  of  ignorance  and  passion 
and  impart  nourishment  and  fertility  to  the  soil 
in  which  men  sow  the  seeds  of  their  good  thoughts 
and  actions.3 

The  squat  tower,  or  /co,  which  stands  at  the 
entrance  of  the  monastery  and  forms  a  kind  of 
gateway,  was  built  at  the  time  of  the  extensive 
restorations  which  took  place  in  the  reign  of 
Yung-cheng,  and  therefore  only  dates  from  about 
the  year  1733.  This  is  the  building  which,  as  has 

1  See  above,  p.  331.  2  See  above,  p,  286. 

3  A  similar  idea  is  found  in  the  Jewish  scriptures.  "  In  the  Psalms, 
as  in  the  Prophets/'  observes  Yrjo  Hirn  in  his  Sacred  Shrine  "  the  rain 
and  the  dew  are  continually  used  as  images  of  blessing.  God's  wrath 
expressed  itself  in  sending  a  drought  on  those  who  had  not  listened  to 
His  commands,  but  His  favour  sent  rain  upon  the  faithful,  and  His 
mildness  sank  down  like  a  soft  dew  over  the  field."  .  .  .  "The 
answering  of  prayer  and  grace  are  a  heavenly  dew  which  sinks  down 
over  the  mind  to  purify  and  refresh  it.  In  this  respect  the  earliest 
fathers  follow  the  terminology  of  the  Jewish  writers  ;  and  the  similes 
of  the  cloud,  the  dew,  and  the  rain  are  continually  used  by  mediaeval 
scholastics  and  mystics,  no  less  than  by  modern  pious  writers,  from 
Santa  Theresa  and  Bunyan  down  to  the  modern  preachers  " 
(pp.  303-4). 


366          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"          [CH. 

been  noted,1  is  dedicated  to  the  Taoist  T'ien-hou, 
the  "  Queen  of  Heaven."  This  deity,  as  we  know, 
may  be  regarded  in  some  respects  as  the  Taoist 
counterpart  of  Kuan-yin.  As  a  guardian-deity 
of  all  who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  she 
occupies  an  appropriate  position  as  protectress 
of  all  pilgrims  to  the  holy  island.  The  story 
goes  that  on  the  day  on  which  the  building  was 
completed  a  fairy  ship  was  seen  on  the  eastern 
horizon.  Emerging  from  the  silvery  sea  mists, 
it  rapidly  approached  the  island,  with  parti 
coloured  pennons  streaming  from  its  masts  and 
yards  and  gleaming  lights  flashing  from  its  prow. 
It  disappeared  from  the  sight  of  mortal  eyes  while 
it  was  still  at  some  distance  from  the  Ch'ien-pu 
Sands,  but  those  who  had  seen  the  beautiful 
vision  felt  joyfully  confident  that  it  was  no  other 
than  the  ship  of  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven,"  who  by 
this  means  had  signified  her  willingness  to  accept 
the  homage  of  Puto  and  the  guardianship  of  its 
ocean-borne  pilgrims. 

Passing  underneath  the  chapel — if  we  may  so 
call  it — of  the  "  Queen  of  Heaven,"  we  reach  a 
large  quadrangle  with  fine  old  maidenhair-trees  and 
a  p'ai-lw,  or  carved  archway,  and  reach  the  T'ien- 
wang-tien — the  "  Hall  of  the  Heavenly  Kings." 

These  are  Hindu  or  Brahmanical  deities,  and 
though  they  occupy  a  place  in  the  mythology  of 
Buddhism,  they  have  no  essential  connection  with 
the  Buddhist  religion.  All  Western  visitors  to 

1  See  above,  p.  268. 


XIIL]  THE   LAUGHING   BUDDHA  367 

Chinese  temples  are  familiar  with  these  colossal 
figures.  They  occupy  a  special  building  of  their 
own,  which  is  always  the  first  of  the  great  halls 
of  a  properly-equipped  Buddhist  temple.1  In  the 
midst  of  this  hall,  facing  the  incoming  visitor,  sits 
the  bodhisat  Maitreya  (the  Mi-lei  Pusa  of  the 
Chinese),  who,  according  to  a  vague  Buddhist 
belief,  is  now  a  resident  in  one  of  the  heavenly 
kingdoms  (Tushita),  and  is  destined  to  come  to 
earth  at  some  period  in  the  more  or  less  distant 
future  and  to  be  the  Buddha  of  that  age.  He  it 
is  to  whom  Europeans  have  given  the  names  of 
the  "  Buddhist  Messiah "  and  the  "  Laughing 
Buddha." 

Facing  the  opposite  direction,  and  with  his 
back  to  Mi -lei,  stands  Wei-t'o  (Veda),  who  is 
regarded  as  a  pusa  entrusted  with  the  special 
duty  of  protecting  all  monastic  buildings.  To  use 
the  Sanskrit  term,  he  is  a  viharapala — a  tutelary 
deity  of  monasteries.  The  Chinese  regard  him 
also  as  a  hu-fa  ("defender  of  the  faith"),  and 
it  is  for  this  reason  that  his  portrait  often  appears 
on  the  last  page  of  Buddhist  books. 

But  the  most  conspicuous  occupants  of  the 
hall  are  the  "  four  great  heavenly  kings "  (ssu- 

1  In  the  case  of  the  "  Southern  Monastery  "  of  Puto,  as  we  have  seen 
(p.  328),  the  first  hall  is  the  pavilion  of  "Imperial  Tablets/'  and  in 
the  case  of  the  cc  Northern  Monastery"  the  first  building  is  the  pavilion 
of  the  "Queen  of  Heaven."  But  these  are  extra  and  unessential 
adjuncts  to  the  temple  buildings,  and  could  therefore  he  placed 
where  fancy  or  convenience  dictated.  The  T'ien-wang-tien  (the  "  Hall 
of  the  Four  Heavenly  Kings")  is  always  in  front  of  the  essential 
buildings. 


368          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

ta  t'ien-wang),  who  sit  in  couples,  the  one  couple 
facing  the  other.  These  enormous  and  grotesque 
figures  represent  the  mythological  kings  who  stand 
at  guard  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  universe,  or 
on  the  four  sides  of  the  fabulous  Mount  Meru, 
preventing  the  invasion  of  noxious  influences  or 
evil  demons,  and  thus  preserving  inviolate  the 
sanctity  of  the  abodes  of  the  Brahmanical  gods. 
Strictly  speaking,  they  themselves  are  not  gods 
—  they  are  rather  "  demon  -  kings  "  who  have 
been  "converted."  Each  is  associated,  after  the 
usual  fashion  of  religious  symbolism  in  the  East, 
with  certain  colours  and  "elements."  The 
northern  king,  who  takes  theoretical  precedence 
of  the  others,  is  the  black  king  of  water ;  the 
southern  is  the  blue  king  of  liu-li — -lapis-lazuli ; 
the  eastern  is  the  white  king  of  gold;  the 
western  is  the  red  king  of  silver. 

A  European  visitor  to  a  Buddhist  temple  is 
apt  to  assume  from  the  huge  size  and  gorgeous 
ornamentation  of  these  figures,  and  the  prom 
inence  of  the  position  assigned  to  them  in  the 
temple  precincts,  that  the  beings  whom  they 
represent  must  occupy  an  important  place  in  the 
religious  system  to  which  they  have  gained 
admittance.  But  such  is  not  the  case.  Their 
existence,  indeed,  was  recognized  by  Buddhists  at 
an  early  period,  and  they  are  mentioned  in  several 
passages  of  the  Hinayana  scriptures ; *  they  are 

1  English  readers  may  be  referred  to  Dr  Rhys  Davids,  Dialogues  of 
the  Buddha,  pt.  ii.  pp.  259,  282-3,  287-8,  373. 


XIIL]          THE   FOUR  KINGS   OF  HEAVEN  369 

mythologically  associated,  moreover,  with  time 
as  well  as  space,  for  they  are  sometimes  identified 
with  the  seasons,  and  each  is  supposed  to  be  the 
father  of  ninety  sons  who  represent  the  days  of 
the  year.1  This  artificial  division  of  the  year 
into  twelve  months  of  thirty  days  each  was  a 
Brahmanical  sacrificial  year,  and  though  it  was 
not  astronomically  accurate,  it  was  probably  of 
greater  antiquity  than  either  the  solar  or  the 
lunar  year.2  But  all  these  myths  and  fancies 
have  no  essential  connection  with  Buddhism.  As 
far  as  China  is  concerned,  the  four  kings  seem  to 
have  been  brought  into  association  with  Buddhism 
no  earlier  than  the  eighth  century  of  our  era.  A 
monk  from  Ceylon  named  Amogha  (or  Pu-k'ung, 
to  use  the  name  by  which  he  is  best  known  in 
China),  who  came  to  China  about  the  year  733, 
is  said  to  have  been  responsible  for  introducing 
them  into  the  country  of  his  adoption. 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  in  the  front  hall  of  a  large 
Buddhist  temple,  such  as  that  of  the  "Northern 
Monastery  "  in  Puto,  there  is  much  to  attract  the 

1  See  Beal,  Catena,  pp.   71-3,  77,  and  his  Buddhist  Lit.  in  China, 
pp.  157-8.     Beal  observes  that  the  four  kings  "are,  under  one  aspect, 
the  Horai  of  Homer  ;  under  another  the  four  elements." 

2  Mr  F.   M.    Cornford,    in  his  From  Religion  to  Philosophy,  1912, 
observes  that  ' '  the  seasonal  year  being  probably  older  than  the  solar 
or  even  the  lunar  calendar,  the  Horai  would  naturally  be  prominent 
before  the  moon  and  the  sun  were  worshipped,  as  the  measurers  of 
time  and  the  givers  of  life"  (p.  170).     It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
ancient  year  of  3GO  days  is  not  yet  extinct,  and  that  ' '  it  is  probably 
still  used  to  regulate  Vedic  sacrifices"  (Dr  J.  F.  Fleet,  in  J.R.A.S., 
October  1911,  p.  1094). 

2A 


370          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

notice  of  all  who  are  interested  in  the  comparative 
study  of  religion.  There  is  the  Mi -lei  Fo 
("Maitreya  Buddha"),  who  invariably  faces  the 
outer  doorway,  and  invariably  wears  the  happy 
expression  which  attracts  the  attention  of  all 
European  visitors  to  Buddhist  temples.  Strictly 
speaking,  he  is  at  present  neither  Buddha  nor 
bodhisat — neither  Fo  nor  Pusa  ;  but  he  will  be  a 
bodhisat  when  he  appears  on  earth  at  some  future 
time,  and  he  will  become  Buddha  during  that 
earthly  life.  He  cannot  be  admitted  to  the  holy 
of  holies  —  the  real  sanctuary  of  the  temple  — 
because  he  belongs  to  the  future,  not  to  the 
present.  His  image  is  therefore  placed  in  the 
outer  hall,  which  is  a  mere  porch  or  antechapel 
in  its  relation  to  the  consecrated  buildings  that 
stand  behind  it.  Why  does  he  face  the  outer 
doorway  ?  Because  he  is  waiting  to  welcome 
the  coming  of  the  next  Buddha- age.  Why  does 
he  "  laugh "  ?  Because  he  is  full  of  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  Buddha  that  is  to  come.  } 

Behind  him,  as  we  have  seen,  stands  the 
viharapala — Wei-t'o — whose  face  is  turned  in  the 
opposite  direction,  towards  the  inner  halls  and 
chapels  of  the  temple.  The  reason  of  this  position 
is  obvious.  The  future,  the  things  that  are  to 
come,  are  no  concern  of  his.  The  sole  duty  of 
AVei-t'o  is  to  stand  guard  over  the  monks  and 
their  monastery ;  he  therefore  faces  the  ta-tien — 
the  principal  sanctuary. 

As  for  the  four  heavenly  kings,  the  figures  of 


XIIL]     MEI-LI   AND  THE   GUARDIAN   KINGS      371 

these  mighty  beings  should,  in  theory,  stand  at 
the  four  points  of  the  compass.  This  arrangement 
would  be  inconvenient,  and  they  are  therefore 
placed  in  couples ;  so  that  if  the  temple  faces  the 
south  (as  temples  in  China  theoretically  should), 
two  of  the  kings  sit  on  the  east  side  and  two  on 
the  west.1  Thus  the  Buddhist  worshipper,  who 
is  bound  to  pass  through  the  front  hall  in  order 
to  reach  the  main  object  of  his  devotions,  is 
challenged,  as  it  were,  by  the  guardian-kings  on 
his  left  and  right  as  he  enters  the  precincts  of 
the  temple. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  the  five  principal 
occupants  of  this  hall — Mi -lei  and  the  four  kings 
—  are  all  excluded  from  the  temple's  inner 
sanctuaries.  They  are  not  the  recipients  of 
prayers  or  thanksgivings,  and  are  not  entitled  to 
religious  adoration.  In  front  of  each,  indeed,  is 
a  stone  incense-jar,  and  into  each  jar  the  pious 
pilgrim,  as  he  passes,  will  probably  insert  a  stick 
of  incense ;  but  this  will  merely  be  an  act  of  con 
ventional  piety  or  courtesy,  not  one  which  can 
fittingly  be  described  as  an  act  of  religious  worship.2 , 

1  The  "Northern  Monastery"  of  Puto  faces  due  south. 

'2  This  matter  has  been  dealt  with  at  some  length,  because  lack  of 
sympathy,,  or  defective  knowledge,,  or  a  combination  of  both,  frequently 
results  in  misrepresentations  which  are  apt  to  give  rise,  among  Western 
peoples,  to  very  erroneous  and  unfair  impressions  of  Buddhism.  The 
following  is  an  extract  from  an  article  which  appeared,  as  recently  as 
January  1913,  in  the  journal  of  the  China  Inland  Mission.  "  We 
proceeded  to  glance  at  the  various  deities  in  the  outer  court.  The 
most  striking  of  these  were  the  Laughing  Buddha  and  the  Four  Kings 
of  Heaven.  .  .  .  Two  of  these  worthies  fsat'  very  quietly  for  their 
photographs  in  spite  of  having  to  sustain  a  somewhat  trying  pose  at 


372  THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"          [OH. 

Behind  the  "  Hall  of  the  Four  Kings,"  in  the 
"  Northern  Monastery,"  is  a  series  of  terraces,  each 
of  which  is  reached  by  a  flight  of  steps.  On  the 
left  and  right  of  one  such  terrace  stand  the  drum 
and  bell  towers.  Above  them  we  come  to  the 
Yu-Fo-Tien — the  yellow -roofed  hall  of  the  so- 
called  Jade  Buddha.1  Beyond  this  is  the  main 
sanctuary  —  the  great  hall  of  Kuan-yin.  This 
particular  hall  is  generally  known  as  the  Chiu- 
lung-tien  ("Nine-dragon  Hall")  in  consequence  of 
the  fact  that  when  it  was  undergoing  restoration 
in  the  reign  of  K'ang-hsi  it  was  roofed  with  tiles 
which  came  from  a  dismantled  imperial  palace  at 
Nanking.  These  tiles  were  a  gift  to  the  monastery 
from  the  emperor  himself.  The  hall  contains  a 
very  large  image  of  Kuan-yin.  In  front  of  this 
great  image  stands  a  smaller  one  of  gilded  wood, 
said  to  have  been  brought  from  Tibet.  There 
are  also  two  other  images  of  the  pusa,  the  eighteen 
arahants,  and  a  Wei-t'o  in  a  shrine  faced  with  glass. 

Behind  the  great  hall  is  the  Yu-pei-t'ing  (the 
66  Pavilion  of  Imperial  Tablets  ") ;  and  behind  this 
is  the  large  Fa-t'ang,  which  is  used  by  the  monks 
for  their  daily  services.  It  is  only  on  solemn 
festivals  that  services  are  held  in  the  great  hall 
of  Kuan-yin.  Among  numerous  images  in  the 

the  same  time  !  From  their  pictures  ...  we  can  form  some  idea  of 
the  worshipper's  first  and  last  impressions  of  what  Buddhism  has  to 
offer.  These  four  door  guardians,  flourishing  thunder-bolts  and  spitting 
fireworks,  offer  [no  forgiveness  to  the  sinner,  no  hope  to  the  penitent, 
no  strength  to  the  weak,  no  comfort  to  the  sorrowful,  no  guidance  to 
the. perplexed,  their  whole  attitude  being  one  of  vengeance  and  fury." 
1  See  above,  p.  329. 


WITHIN   THE   GROUNDS   OF   THE   NORTHERN   MONASTERY. 


AN   ALABASTER   IMAGE   OF   BUDDHA,    PUTO-SHAN. 


{Facing  p.  372. 


XIIL]  INTERIOR   OF  MONASTERY 

Fa-t'ang  are  those  of  Sakyamuni,  Kuan-yin,  P'u- 
hsien,  and  Wen-shu.  In  the  courtyard,  on  either 
side  of  this  hall,  are  two  chapels,  one  dedicated 
to  Chun-t'i,1  the  other  to  Kuan-ti.  Kuan-ti  is 
properly  to  be  classed  among  the  deities  of 
Taoism,  but  he  has  been  admitted  into  Buddhist 
temples  for  two  main  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
as  a  "  god  of  war "  he  is  regarded  as  a  valuable 
champion  to  enlist  on  the  side  of  true  religion  ; 
in  the  second  place,  he  was  a  tutelary  deity  of  the 
Manchu  dynasty.  Whether  his  image  will  tend 
to  disappear  from  Buddhist  temples  now  that  the 
dynasty  has  collapsed  is  a  question  to  which  as 
yet  no  answer  seems  to  have  been  given. 

On  either  side  of  the  various  halls  and  chapels 
just  described  are  the  various  monastic  offices, 
guest-quarters,  refectory,  kitchens,  monks'  apart 
ments,  meditation  -  halls  (ch'an-Vang]  and  recep 
tion-rooms.  The  innermost  block  of  buildings 
contain  the  abbot's  quarters,  rooms  for  dis 
tinguished  guests  and  pilgrims,  a  chapel  dedicated 
to  Bodhidharma  (in  recognition  of  his  position 
as  patriarch  of  the  Ch'an  school),  and  the 
monastic  library. 

From  the  "Northern  Monastery"  a  well-made 
pathway  leads  to  the  summit  of  the  island.  The 
"Buddha's  Peak"  (Fo-ting)  is  also  known  as  the 
"  Pusa's  (that  is,  Kuan-yin's)  Peak."  A  third  name 
is  "  White  Flower  Peak  "  (Pai-hua-ting),  the  refer 
ence  being,  of  course,  to  the  "  little  white  flower  " 

1  See  above,  pp.  278-9. 


874  THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

for  which  the  island  is  famous.  The  height  is 
little  more  than  nine  hundred  feet,  and  the  ascent 
is  gradual.  In  the  pilgrim-season  many  mountain- 
chairs  are  seen  on  the  winding  pathway,  but  these 
are  almost  monopolized  by  "  small-footed  "  women 
and  old  folk,  whose  strength  would  be  overtaxed 
even  by  so  simple  a  mountain  walk  as  this. 
The  climb,  such  as  it  is,  would  be  well  worth 
undertaking  if  only  for  the  sake  of  the  magni 
ficent  view  of  the  Chusan  archipelago  which  is 
to  be  had  from  the  summit ;  but  there  are  also 
charmingly-situated  temples  to  be  visited.  Of 
these  the  finest  is  the  temple  which  at  present 
ranks  as  third  in  size  and  importance  of  the 
religious  houses  of  Puto.  This  is  the  Hui-chi 
Monastery,  popularly  known  as  the  "Buddha's  Peak 
Monastery," l  which  stands  half-  concealed  amid  a 
little  forest  of  small  oak-trees.  It  dates  from 
the  latter  years  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  when  it 
was  founded  by  a  monk  named  Yiian-hui.  A 
good  view  of  its  coloured  roof-tiles  is  to  be  had 
from  the  wall  of  the  little  disused  lighthouse 
which  crowns  one  of  the  summits.  The  setting 
of  dense  dark  foliage  adds  greatly  to  the  lustre 
and  beauty  of  these  tiles,  the  colours  of  which 
are  yellow,  blue,  white,  and  black.  The  interior 
of  the  temple  is  scarcely  less  attractive  than 
the  exterior.  The  "  Hall  of  the  Four  Kings  " — 
that  which  is  crowned  with  the  coloured  tiles 
— is  worthy  of  attention  on  account  of  its 

1  Fo-ting-sau. 


XIIL]       MONASTERY   OF   BUDDHA'S   PEAK         375 

remarkable  ceiling,  a  fine  example  of  modern 
Chinese  wood -artistry.  The  main  building  of 
the  temple  is  not  dedicated  to  Kuan-yin  but 
to  Sakyamuni :  in  this  respect  it  differs  from 
the  other  large  temples  of  the  island.  It  is 
roofed  with  tiles  of  imperial  yellow,  and  the 
interior  is  richly  garnished.  Sakyamuni  himself, 
represented  by  a  large  gilded  image,  occupies 
the  central  position,  and  on  either  side  stand  the 
figures  of  Ananda  and  Kasyapa.  In  front  of 
Sakyamuni  is  a  comparatively  small  image  of 
Kuan-yin ;  and  along  the  back  of  the  hall  (not 
at  the  two  sides,  as  is  customary)  are  ranged 
the  images  of  the  eighteen  lo-han  ("  arahants"). 
On  a  separate  throne  sits  Ti-tsang,  the  saviour- 
pusa  of  Chiu-hua-shan. 

Near  the  central  hall  is  a  two-storied  building. 
The  lower  room  is  the  tsu-t'ang  (the  "ancestral 
hall "  ),  containing  the  spirit  -  tablets  of  abbots, 
monks,  and  benefactors,  in  addition  to  three 
images,  of  which  the  central  one  is  the  image 
of  Bodhidharma.1  The  upper  room  is  a  chapel 

1  Concerning  Bodhidharma,  see  above,  pp.  83-86.  It  is  distressing  to 
find  that  the  ridiculous  theory,  first  put  forward  by  Catholic 
missionaries,  that  Bodhidharma  was  the  apostle  St  Thomas,  is  for 
ever  rising  phoenix  -  like  from  the  flames  of  destructive  criticism. 
The  theory  seems  to  have  been  based  partly  on  the  fact  that 
Bodhidharma's  portrait — as  engraved  on  several  stone  tablets  and 
reproduced  in  many  a  work  of  pictorial  art — reveals  a  countenance 
that  is  thoroughly  un- Chinese  in  type,  and  partly  on  the  fact  that 
the  name  by  which  he  is  popularly  known  in  Chinese  is  Tamo,  which 
is  supposed  to  bear  a  suspicious  resemblance  to  Thomas.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  Bodhidharma  (who  did  not  come 
to  China  till  the  sixth  century  of  our  era)  was  a  native  of  India,  which 
is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  his  foreign  type  of  countenance,  and 


376  THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"         [CH. 

dedicated  to  Kuan-yin,  of  whom  there  are  three 
images. 

A  remarkable  feature  of  this  temple  is  that 
it  contains  a  Yu-huang-tien — a  hall  consecrated 
to  the  worship  of  the  supreme  god  of  Taoism. 
The  reason  for  his  admission  to  this  Buddhist 
temple  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  "Jade  Imperial 
God "  of  the  Taoists  is  regarded  throughout 
China  as  the  principal  presiding  deity  of  every 
mountain-summit.1  In  any  other  temple  in  Puto 
his  image  would  be  out  of  place ;  in  the  temple 
which  stands  on  the  hill-top — even  though  that 
hill -top  is  "Buddha's  Peak"  —  he  finds  his 
appropriate  dwelling-place. 

The  god  is  enthroned  in  the  centre,  and 
on  right  and  left  are  ranged  his  attendants  and 
disciples.  At  the  back  of  the  chapel,  on  either 
side  of  the  central  shrine,  sit  two  deities,  each 
of  whom  holds  a  circular  plaque  or  disk.  These 

also,  it  may  be  added,  for  his  shaggy  abundance  of  hair.  There  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  traditional  pictures  of  Bodhidharma — one 
of  which  is  reproduced  in  this  book — are  genuine  portraits.  Chinese 
Buddhists  seem  to  have  made  no  attempt  to  give  him  the  appearance 
of  a  countryman  of  their  own.  As  for  the  name  Tamo,  it  is  merely 
an  abbreviation  of  P'u-t'i-ta-mo  (Bodhidharma).  Had  the  Chinese 
wished  to  write  the  name  Thomas  in  Chinese  script,  they  could  easily 
have  used  characters  bearing  the  sound  To-ma.  It  should  have  been 
unnecessary  to  bring  up  this  subject  in  these  enlightened  days,  and 
this  note  would  not  have  been  written  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact 
that  the  Tamo-Thomas  theory  has  quite  lately  sprung  to  life  again 
in  a  recent  volume  of  travels — Through  Shen-kan,  by  R.  S.  Clark 
and  A.  de  C.  Sowerby  (Fisher  Unwin  :  1912).  It  is  only  fair  to  the 
authors  of  the  book  to  add  that  their  authority  for  the  theory  was 
a  missionary  named  F.  Madeley,  with  whom  they  apparently  believed 
it  to  have  originated. 

1  See  Lion  and  Dragon  in  Northern  China,  pp.  32,  391,  396,  398. 


xiii.]  SOLAR   AND  LUNAR   DEITIES  377 

two  divine  personages  are  Jih-kuang  and  Yileh- 
Icuang — the  gods  (or  god  and  goddess)  of  sun 
and  moon.  They,  like  the  Jade  Imperial  God 
himself,  belong  to  the  Taoist  pantheon,  but  they 
are  not  unrecognized  by  Buddhism.  There  are 
many  curious  survivals  of  primitive  sun  worship 
and  moon  worship  to  be  found  in  the  different 
Buddhist  systems,  especially  in  the  Amidist 
cult.1  The  worship  of  solar  and  lunar  deities, 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  existed  long  before 
the  rise  of  Buddhism.  It  engrafted  itself  upon 
Buddhism  just  as  it  did  upon  Hinduism,  Taoism, 
Shinto,  and  Manichasism.*  According  to  the 
ancient  Japanese  mythology,  the  sun  was  ruled 
by  a  goddess  (Ama-terasu) — the  great  divinity 
who  is  still  worshipped  at  Ise  and  from  whom 
the  emperors  of  Japan  claim  descent.  The 
moon,  on  the  other  hand,  was  ruled  by  Ama- 
terasu's  brother,  the  god  Susa-no-o.  The  name 
less  religion  (it  was  not  identical  with  Taoism), 
which  seems  to  have  had  a  zealous  devotee  in 
the  Chinese  emperor  Ch'in  Shih-huang  in  the 

1  See  De  Groot,  Le  Code  du  Malidydna  en  Chine  pp.  185  ff.,  22Qjf ; 
and  Beal,   Catena,  pp.   68-70.       Chandrasuryapradipa   ("  Moon  -  sun  - 
lamp  ")  Buddha  is  mentioned  in  various  sutras.      The  name  is  rendered 
in  Chinese  by  Jih-Yueh-Ttng  Fo,  or  Wen-kuang  Fo. 

2  With   regard   to    Mariichseism,    the    following   remarks     hy   Mr 
G.   R.  S.  Mead  (The  Quest,  Jan.  1913,  p.  360)  are  of  interest.     "It 
is  well  known  that  in  both  the  cosmology  and  soteriology  of  Mani, 
the  moon  and  the  sun,  under  the  figure  of  luminous  vessels  or  light 
ships,  play  an  important  rule.     In  the  soteriology  they  are  connected 
with  the  purification,,  respectively  by  water  and   fire,  and  the  trans 
portation  of  the  souls   of  the   righteous   deceased  across  the  ocean 
of  the  aether."     (See  also  J.R.A.S.,,  January  1913,  p.  90.) 


378          THE    "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

third  century  B.C.,  included  sun  worship;1  and, 
indeed,  the  State  religion  of  China  gave  official 
recognition  to  the  worship  of  sun  and  moon  up 
to  the  date  of  the  fall  of  the  Manchu  dynasty 
in  1912,  as  the  altars  outside  the  eastern  and 
western  walls  of  the  "Tartar  City"  of  Peking 
still  remain  to  testify.2 

Near  the  Hui-chi  Monastery  will  be  found 
some  of  the  finest  tombs  on  the  island.  The  most 
charmingly  situated  is  perhaps  that  which  was 
erected  as  recently  as  1887  to  the  abbot  of  Hui-chi, 
whose  fa-wing,  or  religious  name,  was  Hsin-chen 
("  Trusting  in  the  Truth  ").  The  tombs  of  Puto 
are  numerous  and  interesting,  and  if  we  were  to 
do  justice  to  them,  and  to  the  religious  ideas  which 
they  symbolize  or  represent,  we  should  have  to 
devote  a  chapter  to  this  subject  alone.  It  may  be 
mentioned,  however,  that  they  are  of  two  principal 
kinds.  There  are  the  separate  graves  of  abbots 
and  other  distinguished  persons,  and  of  these  the 
grave  of  Hsin-chen  is  a  good  example.  There  are 
also  the  p'u-t'ung-t(a — large  tombs  which  are  used 
for  the  "  universal  mingling  "  of  the  ashes  of  monks 
who  are  not  granted  the  privilege  of  separate 
burial.  The  typical  p'u-t'ung-t'a  consists  mainly 

1  A  shrine  to  the  sun-god  has  existed  from  time  immemorial  on 
the  north-eastern  promontory  of  Shantung,  near  Weihaiwei.     Accord 
ing   to    tradition,   the   emperor   Chfiri    Shih-huang   worshipped    the 
rising  sun  at  this  spot — the  easternmost  limit  of  his  empire. 

2  The  quaint  relics  of  moon  worship  which  still  exist  among  the 
Chinese  peasantry  (see  Lion  and  Dragon  in  Northern  China,  pp.  182-4, 
191)  have  no  connection  with  Buddhism  and  no  essential  connection 
with  Taoism, 


XIIL]  THE    BUDDHIST  DEAD  379 

of  a  massive  stone  structure  having  on  each  of  its 
four  or  more  sides  a  small  hole  a  few  inches  square. 
Each  of  these  holes  is  closed  up  by  a  loose  block 
of  stone,  which  can  be  withdrawn  when  the  ashes 
of  a  dead  monk  are  to  be  deposited  in  the  interior. 
The  bodies  of  monks — and  of  lay  Buddhists  too, 
sometimes — are  cremated.  Each  monastery  of  any 
size  possesses  not  only  its  own  p'u-Vung-Va,  but 
also  its  own  crematorium,  which  is  a  small  stone 
building  somewhat  similar  in  appearance  to  a 
miniature  temple.  A  properly  -  constructed  p'u- 
t'ung  -  t'a  should  have  four  separate  cavities — 
one  for  the  ashes  of  pi  -  ch'iu,  or  ordained  monks, 
another  for  those  of  pi-ch'iu-ni,  or  ordained  nuns,1 
a  third  for  those  of  upasakas  (yu-p'o-sai),  or  lay- 
brothers,  and  a  fourth  for  those  of  upasikas  (yu-p(o-i)9 
or  lay- sisters. 

The  graves  of  monks,  like  those  of  laymen, 
usually  bear  inscriptions  containing  euphemistic 
expressions  whereby  death,  it  is  thought,  is  robbed 
of  its  sting.  In  Puto  one  of  the  favourite 
descriptions  of  a  grave  is  shou-yu  ("the  region  of 
longevity,"  or  the  "long  home").  The  poetical 
term  chun  hsi  ("  to  store  away  for  the  long  night," 
as  it  has  been  translated)  is  also  found  carved  on 
monumental  stones. 

Western  visitors  to  Puto,  who  might  perhaps 
care  little  for  its  history  or  religious  associations, 

1  There  are  no  nuns  or  other  women  resident  in  the  religious  houses 
of  Puto.  The  ashes  of  dead  nuns  —  as  of  lay  Buddhists,  male  and 
female- -may,  however,  be  carried  to  Puto  for  burial  there. 


380          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

could  hardly  fail  to  be  enchanted  with  its  scenery 
and  its  flora.  Many  of  its  trees  are  of  great  beauty. 
The  grove  of  evergreen  oak *  which  covers  part  of 
"  Buddha's  Peak  "  consists  of  comparatively  small 
trees ;  but  the  island  contains  fine  specimens  of 
camphor,  ginkgo,2  cypress,  chestnut,  and  sophora, 
besides  many  other  trees  well  known  in  central 
China.  Pines  and  similar  trees  seem  to  decay 
before  they  attain  any  great  age  or  size.  The 
Chinese  say  that  they  are  injured  by  the  salt 
sea  winds,  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  they 
exhaust  the  soil.  There  are  plum,  peach,  and 
cherry  trees  which  burst  into  glorious  blossom  in 
the  spring ;  and  the  maple  tints  in  autumn  bring 
some  consolation  for  the  fading  of  the  exquisite 
gardenia  florida — the  fragrant  "  little  white  flower  " 
for  which  the  island  has  been  celebrated  for  a 
thousand  years.  Flowering  plants  and  shrubs  are 
indeed  abundant  in  Puto.  Many  have  been 
introduced  into  the  monastery  gardens  by  the 
monks,  who,  like  all  Orientals,  and  Buddhists  in 
particular,  are  lovers  of  flowers. 

Vegetables  and  grain  of  many  kinds  are,  of 
course,  cultivated  to  the  fullest  extent  possible,  for 
the  monastic  fraternities  are  strictly  vegetarian. 
The  so-called  Chinese  potato  is  said  to  have  been 
brought  from  Japan.  Beans  and  other  leguminous 
plants  are  common,  and  there  are  a  few  rice-fields. 
Fruit-trees  are  cared  for  rather  for  their  blossom 


1  Quercus  sclerophylla. 

2  Salisburia  adiantifolia. 


GRAVE   OF  THE   ABBOT   HSTN-CHEN. 


A   P'U-T-UNG-T'A. 

(For  the  reception  of  the  ashes  of  deceased  monks, } 


[  Facing  p.   3  ?o. 


XIIL]  FAUNA  OF   PUTO  381 

than  for  their  fruit,  but  the  Chinese  like  oranges, 
and  of  these  Puto  possesses  at  least  three  varieties. 
The  island  also  produces  a  special  kind  of  tea, 
which  is  much  prized  by  the  Chinese  and  is  said 
to  have  medicinal  qualities.1 

As  to  the  fauna  of  Puto,  this  is  another  subject 
to  which  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  do  justice 
in  these  few  pages.  There  are  a  few  small  hornless 
deer 2  which — owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  never 
hunted  or  disturbed  by  the  monks — are  so  tame 
that  they  will  enter  the  temple  gardens,  and  will 
lie  basking  in  the  sun  on  the  Ch'ien  -  pu  Sands 
even  in  the  presence  of  so  preposterous  a  creature 
as  a  Western  foreigner.  It  is  said  that  wild  pigs, 
monkeys,  and  wild  cat  were  common  at  one  time, 
though  whether  they  are  to  be  seen  on  the 
island  nowadays  seems  doubtful.  According  to  the 
Chronicle,  tigers  used  to  swim  from  Chusan  across 
the  "  Sea  of  Water-lilies,"  but  they  always  turned 
and  went  back  before  they  reached  the  shores  of 
Puto.  This  may  have  been  because  their  strength 
was  no  match  for  that  of  the  ocean-currents,  or  (to 
mention  the  theory  preferred  by  the  Buddhists) 
because  some  instinct  told  them  that  the  soil  of  the 
island  was  sacred  and  that  the  slaughter  of  animals 
was  not  permitted.  Snakes  are  common,  but  owing 
to  Kuan-yin's  intervention  they  are  all  perfectly 
harmless.  Those  which  refused  to  surrender  their 

1  It  is  said  to  be  beneficial  for  lung-diseases  and  dysentery.     Another 
of  Puto's  many  medicinal  plants  is  the  vitex  ovata. 

2  Hydropotes  inermis  1 


382          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY'  [CH. 

poisonous  properties  were  banished  to  the  mainland. 
A  few  cattle  and  water-buffalo  are  to  be  seen, 
but  these  are  kept  only  for  agricultural  purposes. 
The  buffalo  are  used  for  the  ploughing  of  the 
rice-fields.  Squirrels,  goats,  and  monkeys  are 
said  to  have  been  often  kept  as  pets  in  the 
monastery  grounds.  The  Chronicle  tells  us  about 
a  tame  goat  that  belonged  to  the  monks  of 
Fa-yii. 

"  It  can  understand  what  people  say  to  it.  If 
you  call  to  it,  it  will  follow  you.  If  you  give  it  food, 
it  will  bend  one  leg  and  bow  its  head  and  take  the 
food  from  your  hand  quite  gently.  If  you  tell  it 
to  kneel,  it  will  go  down  on  both  fore-legs.  It  is 
not  often  "  concludes  the  chronicler  triumphantly, 
"  that  you  have  the  chance  of  seeing  a  goat  like 
that ! " 

In  reading  the  literature  associated  with  the 
great  Buddhist  hills  we  cannot  fail  to  notice  how 
frequently  the  love  and  enthusiasm  of  monks  and 
hermits  and  poets  for  their  wild  and  romantic 
homes  impel  each  to  extol  his  own  chosen  place 
of  retreat  as  the  pride  and  glory  of  all  holy  and 
beautiful  mountains.  We  need  not  be  surprised, 
therefore,  to  learn  from  one  of  the  poetic  recluses 
of  Puto  that  his  beloved  island  is  Chih  -  na 
ssii-shan  cJdh  kuan  ("  the  Crown  of  China's  Four 
Mountains"  *).  "  Who  tells  you,"  exclaims  another 
poet  in  a  still  more  ecstatic  strain,  "  that  there  is 

1  Chih,  xvii.  p.  2. 


xiii.]  POETS   OF   PUTO  383 

no  road  to  heaven?  This  is  heaven's  own  gate 
way,  and  through  it  you  may  pass  direct  to  the 
very  throne  of  God."1 

Almost  equally  enthusiastic  is  much  of  the 
verse  that  has  been  written  by  poets  whose 
interest  in  Puto  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been 
based  on  religious  emotion.  To  some  of  these 
reference  has  already  been  made.  Another  of 
those  who  sang  the  praises  of  the  island  in 
graceful  verse  was  the  famous  scholar  and  states 
man  Wang  An-shih  (  1021-86),  who  visited  it 
during  his  tenure  of  office  as  magistrate  of  a 
district  in  Chehkiang.  Another  was  the  dis- 
tinquished  artist  and  poet  Chao  Meng-fu  (1254- 
1322),  who  held  official  positions  under  the  Sung 
and  Yuan  dynasties.  A  third  was  Ch'en  Hsien- 
chang  (1428-1500),  a  Cantonese  poet  whose  tablet 
has  been  elevated  to  the  "  Confucian  Temple," 2 
though  by  religious  temperament  he  seems  to 
have  had  closer  kinship  with  Buddhism  than 
with  Confucianism. 

The  poet  -  monk  T'ung-yiian,  who  was  an 
abbot  of  the  "  Southern  Monastery  "  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  a  typical 

1  This   occurs   in   a  poem   by  the   monk  Tfung-hsii.     Western 
readers,  who  usually  take  it  for  granted  that  no  Buddhists  recognize  a 
supreme  personal  God,  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  a  Buddhist — and 
an  ordained  monk — can  give  expression  to  such  words  as  these.     But 
there  »is  no   real  cause   for  surprise.     The  fact  is  that  the    river  of 
Buddhism,  like  all  the  great  streams  of  religious  thought,  frequently 
breaks  its  own  banks  and  flows  far  beyond  the  limits'  of  the  channel 
to  which  in  theory  it  should  confine  itself. 

2  See  above,  p.  247. 


384          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

example  of  a  class  from  which  the  Buddhist  monk 
hood  has  drawn  many  of  its  best  recruits.  A  little 
sketch  of  his  career,  written  by  a  friend  who  had 
known  him  from  boyhood,  is  preserved  in  a 
preface  to  his  poems.  Poets,  says  the  biographer, 
often  have  to  go  into  quiet  and  lonely  places 
before  they  can  give  fit  expression  to  their 
thoughts.  They  must  lead  lives  of  solitude,  and 
nest  themselves  in  hills  and  woods,  so  that  they 
may  hold  themselves  aloof  from  worldly  distrac 
tions  and  allow  their  minds  to  become  clear  and 
unruffled.  Outward  conditions  must  be  attuned 
to  their  inward  feelings  before  they  can  turn  the 
promptings  of  poetic  inspiration  to  good  account. 
T'ung-ytian,  continues  the  sympathetic  biographer, 
was  one  of  those  to  whom  such  a  life  as  this  was 
thoroughly  congenial.  As  a  boy  he  was  clever, 
but  he  cared  little  for  the  noisy  company  of  his 
friends.  He  used  to  steal  away  from  them  so 
that  he  might  enjoy  lonely  quietness.  When  he 
was  still  little  more  than  child  his  thoughts 
began  to  hanker  after  a  religious  life,  for  its 
loneliness  and  tranquillity  attracted  him.  At  the 
age  of  seventeen  he  went  to  Puto  and  became  a 
member  of  one  of  the  monasteries  there.  A  few 
years  later  the  temples  were  destroyed  by  pirates 
and  all  the  monks  were  obliged  to  migrate  to 
the  mainland.1  A  long  time  afterwards,  when 
the  temples  were  rebuilt,  he  returned  to  Puto, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the 

1  This  refers  to  the  events  of  1665-71. 


XIIL]  INCORRUPTIBLE   RICHES  385 

religious    and    poetic   meditation   which   his   soul 
loved. 

But  Puto  has  not  confined  its  welcome  to 
scholarly  poets  and  famous  statesmen,  from 
whose  names  it  might  borrow  a  reflected  glory. 
It  has  been  the  tarrying-place  or  the  home  of 
many  a  poor  fugitive  from  the  battle  of  life, 
many  a  stricken  soul  whose  only  longing  was 
to  escape  from  the  turmoil  of  a  world  in  which 
he  had  tasted  only  sorrow  and  the  bitterness  of 
defeat.  To  such  as  these  the  great  monasteries 
of  China  have  always  been  havens  of  refuge,  and 
Puto  has  not  spurned  them  for  her  shores.  Some 
times,  indeed,  those  who  have  taken  or  could  take 
only  an  inglorious  part  in  the  struggle  for  riches 
and  rank  have  proved  their  ability  to  secure  a 
goodly  share  of  the  only  form  of  wealth  that 
does  not  diminish  by  being  shared  with  others. 
The  riches  of  the  spirit,  the  treasures  that  are 
incorruptible,  have  been  most  often  secured — 
in  Buddhist  China  as  in  Christian  Europe — by 
men  who  have  cared  but  little  for  those  material 
successes  and  rewards  which,  to  the  worldly- 
minded,  constitute  the  goal  of  all  ambition. 

We  may  guess,  perhaps,  that  one  of  those 
meditative  souls  who  know  how  to  turn  material 
defeat  into  spiritual  victory  was  a  monk  of  Puto 
who  assumed,  or  was  given,  the  significant  name 
of  Chen-cho  ("  Truly-stupid  ").  He  had  an  alterna 
tive  name — Wu-neng,  which  means  "Can't-do- 

2  B 


386          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"          [CH. 

anything."  He,  we  are  told,  was  seized  with 
religious  longings  at  the  early  age  of  seven.  But 
he  was  an  only  son,  and  Chinese  custom  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  devote  himself  to  the 
monkhood  so  long  as  no  provision  had  been  made 
for  carrying  on  the  rites  of  ancestral  "  worship." 
So  when  he  became  a  young  man  he  went  on 
pilgrimage  to  Chiu  -  hua  -  shan  for  the  express 
purpose  of  imploring  Ti-tsang  to  take  pity  on 
his  father  and  mother,  who  would  be  childless 
if  he  became  a  monk.  "  Can't  -  do  -  anything  " 
proved  that  even  if  he  could  do  nothing  else, 
he  at  least  knew  how  to  move  a  divine  being 
to  compassion,  for  shortly  after  his  visit  to  Chiu- 
hua  the  good  news  was  brought  to  him  that  he 
had  an  infant  brother.  He  was  then  free  to 
follow  where  his  spirit  beckoned.  In  1616  he 
came  to  Puto,  where  he  earned  the  love  and 
respect  of  the  monks,  not  only  for  the  austerity 
of  his  mode  of  life,  but  also  for  the  unselfish  zeal 
with  which  he  interested  himself  in  the  welfare 
of  pilgrims  and  strangers.  A  building  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  the  "  Temple  of  the  Sea 
Mists  "  was  founded  by  him  for  the  special  purpose 
of  accommodating  and  entertaining  the  pilgrim - 
monks  who  came  across  the  waters  to  worship 
at  the  shrine  of  Kuan-yin. 

Puto  has  had  many  strange  visitors,  and  some 
of  them — if  we  may  believe  the  testimony  of  those 
who  had  the  best  opportunity  of  judging — belonged 
to  a  plane  of  existence  that  was  more  exalted  than 


xni.]  TWO   STRANGE   VISITORS  387 

the  plane  of  ordinary  humanity.  A  monk  of  the 
Ming  dynasty  named  Chen-I  has  a  tale  to  tell  us 
about  a  mysterious  couple — a  man  and  a  woman— 
who  came  to  Puto  in  1605.  They  took  up  their 
abode  side  by  side  on  a  little  hill  overlooking  the 
sacred  cave  of  Kuan-yin,  in  two  thatched  huts 
which  they  made  with  their  own  hands.  The  huts 
were  so  small  and  so  rudely  put  together  that  they 
afforded  no  proper  protection  against  the  weather, 
and  it  was  impossible  either  to  stand  or  to  lie  down 
inside  them ;  moreover,  the  roofs  leaked  and  the 
ground  was  damp.  The  wretched  couple,  who 
were  supposed  to  be  beggars,  drank  nothing  but 
cold  water  and  ate  nothing  but  coarse  herbs.  For 
several  days  at  a  time,  indeed,  they  took  no 
nourishment  at  all,  yet  seemed  none  the  worse 
for  their  abstinence.  If  people  took  pity  on  them 
and  offered  them  food  or  money,  they  did  not 
refuse  such  gifts,  but  always  gave  them  away  again 
to  any  hungry  pilgrim  who  happened  to  pass 
by.  The  monk  Chen-I  took  a  kindly  interest  in 
the  couple,  and  went  one  night  to  pay  them  a 
friendly  visit.  They  seemed  quite  indifferent  to 
his  presence,  and  for  a  long  time  ignored  his  well- 
meant  remarks.  He  raised  a  lamp  so  that  he 
might  have  a  better  view  of  them,  and  this  seemed 
to  wake  them  up  a  little.  But  still  the  man  only 
smiled  when  spoken  to,  and  the  woman  only 
uttered  interjections.  They  refused  to  tell  him 
their  names,  and  the  only  fact  in  connection  with 
their  past  history  which  they  were  willing  to 


388          THE   "NORTHERN   MONASTERY"  [CH. 

communicate  was  that  they  had  lived  for  a  long 
time  on  the  sacred  mountain  of  Chung-nan  in 
distant  Shensi.1  Chen-I  then  asked  them  about 
their  religious  beliefs,  and  the  response  was  a 
curious  one :  "  Our  eyes  have  seen  the  ocean  ;  our 
ears  have  heard  the  wind  soughing,  the  rain  descend 
ing,  the  sea  waves  dashing,  and  the  wild  birds  calling." 
Then  the  monk  asked  what  their  occupation  was. 
"  Sometimes,"  they  replied,  "  we  meditate  on  Kuan- 
yin.  At  other  times  we  sit  still  and  do  nothing." 

Chen-I  seems  to  have  gone  away  in  a  state  of 
great  perplexity.  He  was  unable  to  make  up  his 
mind  as  to  whether  the  couple  were  very  foolish 
or  very  wise :  it  seemed  clear  to  him  that  they 
must  be  either  one  or  the  other.  They  remained 
in  their  huts  throughout  the  ensuing  autumn  and 
winter.  In  the  second  month  of  the  following 
year  pilgrims  began  to  come  to  the  island  in 
crowds.  One  day,  while  great  numbers  of  pilgrims 
were  standing  at  the  entrance  to  the  sacred  cave, 
the  nameless  couple  suddenly  appeared  before 
them.  "  Peace  be  with  you  all," 2  they  said  ;  and 
thereupon  they  vanished  and  were  never  seen 
again. 

The  answer  given  by  these  strange  beings  to 
the  question  about  their  religious  beliefs  was  not 
so  irrelevant  as  an  unwary  reader  may  be  tempted 
to  suppose.  A  sacred  mountain  or  a  sacred  island 
is,  to  the  Buddhists  of  China,  a  great  altar  set  up 

1  See  above,  pp.  91, 148. 


A   MONASTERY   GARDEN,    PUTO-SHAN. 


COURTYARD   IN   THE   NORTHERN   MONASTERY,    PUTO-SHAN. 

[Facing  p. 


XIIL]  THE   PRAISES  OF  BUDDHA  389 

to  the  worship  of  the  Buddhas  and  pusas,  and  the 
sky  is  its  jewelled  canopy.  From  another  point  of 
view  it  is  a  mighty  temple,  whose  dome  is  heaven. 
The  separate  shrines  and  sanctuaries  of  Puto  are 
but  chapels  within  one  vast  cathedral.  It  is  not 
only  the  chanting  monks  who  utter  the  praises  of 
Buddha  in  their  great  pavilions ;  it  is  not  only 
from  jars  of  bronze  and  stone  that  perfumed  clouds 
rise  daily  to  the  lotus-throne  of  the  compassionate 
pusa.  From  the  sea  waves  also  come  the  sounds 
of  a  mighty  anthem ;  the  rain  that  patters  on  the 
temple  roofs  is  the  rain  of  the  Good  Law  that  is 
poured  from  the  unfailing  vial  of  Kuan-yin ;  the 
winds  murmur  sutras  in  the  sacred  caves  and  in 
the  spirit-haunted  woods ;  the  wild  birds  in  their 
calling  are  but  joining  in  the  universal  chorus  of 
adoration  ;  and  the  "  little  white  flower  "  sends  up 
to  Buddha,  from  millions  of  censers  not  made 
by  the  hand  of  man,  the  sweet  fragrance  of 
inexhaustible  incense. 


GENERAL   INDEX 


ABHIDHARMA  of  the  Hinayana,  33, 

34,49 
AbhidhaiTna-mahavibhasha-siistra, 

see  Mahavibhasha 
Abhisheka,  285 

Absolute,  the,  119-20,    181,  205 
Acta  Sanctorum,  89 
Adam,  James,  75, 
Adamnan,  abbot  of  lona,  150 
Adam's  spirit,  deliverance  of,  202 
Adibuddha,  94 
Afghanistan,  26 

Africa,  West,  mythology  of,  202 
Agni,  195 
'Akka,  126 

Akshobhya  Buddha,  94,  97 
Alabaster  images  of  Buddha,  329- 

30,  372 

Al  Ghazzali,  73 
Altar   of  Heaven,  5 
Altruism,  68-81, 152-3, 178,  200-1, 

204-6 
Ama-terasu,  Japanese  sun-goddess, 

377 
American  Indians,  mythology  of, 

202 

Amidism,  59  f.,  65,82,  91,  92  ff., 
98-121,    238,   272-3,    287,    288, 
'    377 

Amitabha,92, 93, 94,  95/.,  98-100, 
102-21,     153,    174,    175,    237, 
238,    267,   272,    273,    274,    290 
Amitayurdhyana-sutra,  95 
Ammon  at  Thebes,  126 
Amogha,  369 
Amoghasiddha,  94 
Amoy,  262 
Xnanda,  29,  155,  375 
Anatta,  52 

Ancestor- worship,  11-12,  228 
Ancestral  temples,  219,  221 
Anesaki,  Prof.,  27,  37,  77 


Annamites,  265 
Anne  d'Auray,  St,  125 
Annihilation,   Nirvana   not  equi 
valent  to,  118  JT. 
Anselm,  Archbishop,  317-8 
Antony,  St,  70 
Aphrodite,  286 
Apis  at  Memphis,  126 
Apollo  at  Dephi,  126 
' '  Apostle  of  the  Indies,"  the,  264 
Apostles'  Creed,  the,  201 
Arabic    story    of  an    ostrich,    70 
Arahant,  Arahantship,  34,  43,  47, 

58,  60,  66-81,  329,  375 
Arhat,  see  Arahant 
Aristotelian  methods,  85 
Aristotle,  113-14 
Arnold,  Matthew,  305 
Art,  Buddhist,  in  Japan,  v.,  321 

in  China,  v.,  vi.,  13-19,  117, 

233,  265-6,  275,  287,  291,  338 
Asceticism,   208-9,   226-7,  240-2, 

245,  294-8 

Ashtoreth  at  Hierapolis,  126 
Asoka  Temple  near  Ningpo,  316 

,    the    Emperor,    20-4,    42, 

62,  135 
Asokan  Buddhism,  21,  62 

edicts,  20-1,  62 

Astronomy,  116 

Asvaghosha,  26  jr.,  30,  31-2,  33, 

36,  37,  41,  83 
Atargatis,  289-91 
Augustine,  St,  46,  67,84-5,108,120 
Aurangzeb,  350-1 
Avalokita,   270;   and   see   Avalo- 

kitesvara 

Avalokitesvara    Bodhisattva,    94, 
100-101,  103, 190,  204,  267,  270 
ff.,  273,  285,  286,  287,  353 
Avatamsaka-sutra,  90 
Avichi'hell,  178-180,  181 


391 


392 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Awakening  of  Faith,  The,  27,  37 

BABYLONIAN  influences,,  37-9,  269 
Badarinath,  temple  of  Vishnu  at, 

126 

Bahaism,  126 

"Banished  Angel,"  the,  218 
Barnett,  L.  D.,  69 
Basilides,  111,  119 
Batavia,  361-2 
Bateson,  J.  H.,  295 
Beads  used  by  Buddhists  in  prayer, 

350 
Beal,  Samuel,  cited,  165,  273,  274, 

279,  283,   284,  287,  288,  369, 

377 
Beatific    vision,    exclusion    from, 

63,  106-8 
Bell  of  the  Northern  Monastery, 

Puto-shan,  360-3 
Benares,  five  ghats  of,  126 
Benson,  A.  C.,  200 
Bergson,  121 

Bernadette  of  Lourdes,  296,  297 
Bhagavadglta,  279 
Bhikkhu  (Pali),  a  religious  mendi 
cant,  a  Buddhist  monk,  164 
Bhikkum  (Pali)  a  Buddhist  nun, 

164 
Bhikshu    (Sanskrit)     a     religious 

mendicant,    a  Buddhist    monk, 

164,  379 
Bhikshum  (Sanskrit)  a  Buddhist 

nun,  379 

Bible  of  the  Buddhists,  16 
Biblical  inspiration,  116 
Birth,    religious    observances     in 

connection  with,  187-8 
Birthday  of  Kuan-yin,  316 
Blake,  54 
Blandina,  284 
Blood,  pictures  or  sutras  drawn  or 

written  in,  184,  297 
Bodhicharyavatara,  204 
Bodhidharma,  30,   83-6,  87,  315, 

373,  375-6 
Bodhisat,     bodhisatship,    34,    56, 

66-81, 94  ff.9  99/.,  125, 145, 147, 

187,   204-5,   209-10,  267,    285, 

365 

Bodhisattva  mahasattva,  77 
Body  of  Bliss,  77 
of  the  Law,  77,  152  ;  and  see 

Dharmakaya 


Boerschmann's  P'u-t'o-slutn,  260-1 

Bold,  Philip,  79 

Book  of  the  Dead,  111 

Boutroux  cited,  309 

Brahma,  story  of  the  god,  58-60 

Brahmajala-siitra,  164 

Brahman  girl,  story  of  the,  178- 

80,  182 
Brahmanical  persecutions,  alleged, 

24 
Brahmanism,     24,     58-60,     175, 

186-7,  195-7,  203,  279,  366-9 
Breath,  regulation  of  the,  245-6 
Bridges  of  the  dead,  117 
"Bright  Moonlight,"  242 
Buddha  and  Confucius,  dates  of,  45 

,  death  of,  20,  29,  30,  31 

,  teachings  of  the  historical, 

21,25,43.^,99 
Buddha's    Peak,    259,    314,    358, 

373-4,  376,  380 

Peak      Monastery,      314. 

374-8 

Buddhahood,  all  beings  destined 
to  attain,  177, 180, 187,  192, 197 

Buddhism,  Iff.,  15-19,  20 /.  ;  and 
see  separate  headings 

and    Christianity,    18,     99, 

100,      101,      102,     103,     105, 
107-12,    114,  116,  117,  119-21, 
125  ;  and  see  Christianity 

and     Confucianism,     340  ; 
and  see  Confucianism 

and  Taoism,  137-9 ;  and  see 

Taoism 

,    decay    of,    in     India,    23, 

24,  203-4 
,  introduction  of,  into  China, 

20,  21 /.,  135-41 
,   prospects     of,     in     China, 

vi.-viii.,  4/.,  228-9 
Buddhist  Canon,  15,  22,  24,  32, 

33-5,  41 

Council  of  Kashmir,  26  /., 

32,  33-4,  37 

schools    and    sects,     23-5, 

41  /.,  56  /.,  61,  82-112 

Buffalo  on  Puto-shan,  382 
Burma,  Buddhism  in,  17,  24,  168, 

329-30 

"  Burning  of  the  books,"  22 
Byzantine  monasticism,  297 

C-ffiLESTIUS,  67 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Caird's  Evolution  of  Religion  cited,, 

46 

Calligraphy,  266 
Camphor-trees,  314 
Canon,  see  Buddhist  Canon 
Canterbury  Tales,  The,  129 
Canton,  190 
Case,  Dr  Shirley,  114 
Catechism,  a  Buddhist,  114-16 
Catherine,  of  Alexandria,  St,  284 

of  Siena,  St,  296 

' '  Caves  "  of  Puto-shan,  270,  298, 

356,  357,  359,  387,  389 
Ceylon,  Buddhism  in,  17,  21,  23, 

24,  168 

Chandrasuryapradipa,  377 
ee Chariot"  passage,  48,  49 
Charity  in  Buddhism,  71-3,  102, 

151,  153,  160-6,  177 /.,  189 /., 
Charlemagne,  318 
Charms,  243 
Chaucer,  132-3 
Chavannes,  224 
Cheyne,  Dr  T.  K.,  202,  290 
Child-birth,  187-8 
Children,    Kuan-yin    as  hestower 

of,  269-70 
,    the    divine     protector    of 

dead,  199-200 
,   Ti-tsang    as    hestower    of, 

386 

China  Inland  Mission,  371 
Cliina  under  the  Empress  Dowager, 

by  Bland  and  Backhouse,  355 
Cliorten,  232 
Chou,  Duke  of,  134 

dynasty,  146,  224,  271 

Christ,   superfluous  merit  of.  79, 

173 
Christianity,  8-9,  14,  18,  99-100, 

101,  102,  103,  105,  107,   108, 

110,    111,    114,     116,    119-21, 

173,  197-99,    201-2,  210,    239, 

261-4,  269,  274,  277,  284,  287, 

295,  303,  306,  307,   308,  309, 

317-18,   333,    353,  365,   375-6, 

385 

Chundi-devi,  278-9 
Chusan  islands,  259-65,  271,  321, 

336,  341,  342,  374 
Clement  VI.  (Pope),  79 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  119 
Clouds,  a  collector  of,  255-6 
Clovis  of  Buddhism,  the,  33 


Commandments,  Buddhist,  166, 
182,  188 

Comte,  75 

Comte,  Pere  Le,  262-4 

Confucian  hostility  to  Buddhism, 
2,  10,  87,  225-9,  246,  337-8,  353 

Confucianism,  1-3,  4,  5,  9-12,  17, 
87,  112,  134-5,  137,  152,  224-9, 
245,  246,  247,  248,  266,  289, 
337,  338,  339-40,  341,  352, 
353,  364,  383 

Confucius,  2,  4-5,  9,  10,  45,  46, 

134,  135,  341 

,    temple    and  tomb   of,    5, 

135,  354 

Coomaraswamy,  Dr,  54 
Copying  Buddhist    scriptures    as 

act  of  merit,  184 
Cord  of  Amitabha,  104-5 
Cornford,  F.  M.,  274,  369 
Covetousness,  167 
Creative  Evolution  cited,  121 
Cremation,  231,  379 
Cretans  of  Euripides,  289 
Cruach  Phadraig,  pilgrimages  to, 

125 

Crusaders,  128-9 
Cuzco  in  Peru,  126 

DALAI  LAMA,  231-2,  271 
Damnation,  197-9  ;  and  see  Evil, 

no  eternity  of 
Davids,  Mrs  Rhys,  quoted,  24,  72, 

295,  317 
,  Prof.  Rhys,  quoted,  35,  45, 

49,    61,    57,   58,   59,   61,   164, 

368 
Dead,  disposal  of  the,  230-2,  239- 

40 

Dea  Syria,  289-91 
Death-bed  repentance,  61-4,  198 
Death,    religious    observances    in 

respect  of,  187-8,  236-8 
Deification  of  Buddha,  56-60,  78-9 
Deity,  nature  of,  119-20 
Delphi,  126 
Delvolve  cited,  75 
Demonology,  Buddhist,  179-206 
Descent  into  hell,  201-3 
Devils  acting  as  protectors  of  the 

good,  186-6,  187-9,  198 

of  Buddhism,  179-206 

De  Vita  Contemplativa,  289 
Dew-vase  of  Kuan-yin,  282,  284-6 


394 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Dhamma,  152  ;  and  see  Dharma. 
Dhammapada,  71-2 
Dharma,  151-2 
Dharmakara,  90 
Dharmakaya,  77,  152 
Dharmaraksha,  272,  276 
Dhyana,  29,  30,  313,  349,  364 
School  of  Buddhism,  29,  30, 

82-90,  321 

Dhyanibodhisattvas,  94 
Dhyanibuddhas,  94 
Dialogues  of  the  Buddha,  35.,  51, 

57,  58,  59,  164,  368 
Diamond  Rock,  the,  313-14 

-    Sutra    copied     by   Chinese 

emperor,  350 
Dickinson,  G.  Lowes,  108 
Diverted  merit,  78-9 
Divinity  of  Buddha,  56-60 
Docetism  in  Buddhism,  77,  95 
Dodona,  Zeus  at,  126 
Dogma,  decay  of,  309 
"  Double  -  king  "     of    Purgatory, 

196-7 

Dragon-tiger  Mountains,  354 
Dragon's  Pool,  223 
Druids  of  Ireland,  137 
Duchesne,  Mgr.  Louis,  cited,  38, 

287 

Duns  Scotus,  108,  120 
Dutch  pirates  at  Puto-shan,  343- 

7,  360-3 
< <  Dwarfs,"  323-4,  335 

EARTHQUAKE  at  Batavia,  361-2 

Earth-spirits,  189-90,  191 

Eastern  Cliff,  or  Ridge  of  Chiu- 
hua,  240-3,  255 

Paradise,  the,  97 

Eckenstein,  Miss,  274 

Eckhart,  54,  85 

Edkins,  J.,  274,  328 

Egaku,  320-3,  324,  326,  327,  332 

Ego,  48-55,  71  ff.,  118 /. 

Egoism,  68-81 

Egypt,  21,  111,  289 

Egyptian  pilgrimages,  125-6 

Eightfold  Path,  the,  66 

"  Eight  Small  Famous  Moun 
tains,"  147-8 

Eitel's  Handbook,  271,  279 

"  Elements,"  the  four  (or  five), 
144-5,  368,  369 

Elizabeth,  St,  284 


Empress-Dowager   of  China,  the 

"  Great,"  355 
England,  pilgrimages  in,  128-30, 

132-3 
Epirus,  21 
Essenes,  the,  288-9 
Eternal  punishment  not  aBuddhist 

doctrine,  61-3, 107-8, 171-3,185- 

6,  189,  197-9 
Ethics,  see  Morals. 
Etiquette,  Chinese  monastic,  151, 

155-8 

Euripides,  289 
Evil,  no  eternity  of,  61-3,  107-8, 

171-3,  185-6,  189,  197-9 
( '  Evil  Poison  "  (name  of  a  devil), 

185-6 
Evolution,  116-7,  197 /. 

fE*jTB~wgjp.  JEROME  cited,  201-2 
Faith,  salvation  by,  56,  60-5,  78, 
92/.,  98/.,  105 /.,  178,  184, 
;      185  //; ,  191,  198  /.,  283  /.,  309 
•~ Fanaticism,  T^TgioTr^flin ,  3&U&_ 
Fauna  of  Puto-shan,  381-2 
Faust  quoted,  121 
Fenollosa,  Ernest,  v.,   275,   276, 

291 
Filial  Piety,  181,  182,  193,  250, 

296,  304-6,  352 
Finland,  mythology  of,  202 
Fire,  self-immolation  by,  295,  341 
"  First   Emperor,"  378 
First  Gate  of  Heaven,  221 
"  First   Gateway    of    Contempla 
tion,"  223 
Fishermen    abandon    their    nets, 

333-4 
Fishing  discouraged  in  the  waters 

surrounding  Puto,  292,  334 
Fish-ponds,  236 
Fish  -  symbolism    in     Buddhism, 

290-2 

Five  Buddhas,  the,  94,  97 
Five  heinous  sins,  the,  98,  106 
Sacred  Hills,  the,  134,  137-8, 

139-40,  143,  268 
Sects    of    Dhyana    school, 

87-90 

Fleet,  Dr  J.  F.,  29,  31,  369 
Flesh-food,  prohibition  of,  188 
Flora  of  Chiu-hua-shan,  220-1  ;  of 

Puto-shan,  271,  374,  380 
Flowers,  love  of,  ix.,  380 


GENERAL   INDEX 


395 


Formosa,  344 
Fortune,  Robert,  262 
Fortune-telling  in  China,  234 
Forty-two  Sections,  Sutra  of,  139 
Four  "  elements,"  the,  144-5 

Famous   Hills    of    Chinese 

Buddhism,    141  /.,    194,   235, 
259,  328,  382 

Kings  of  Heaven,  182,  329. 

366-72,  374-5 
France,  religion  in,  9 
Francis  of  Assisi,  St.  84 
Fuji,  Mount,  127 
Fujiwara  family,  320 

GABRIEL,  the  angel,  287 
Games,  the  Greek,  126 
Gandhara,  21,  26,  277,  287 
Gardenia  florida,  271,  380 
Gardner,  Prof.  Percy,  38 
Geology,  116 
Georgi  cited,  279 
Gerard,  Rev.  John,  107 
Giles,  H.  A.,  274,  290 

,  L.,  cited,  49 

Gnostics,  39,  111,  119 

Goat,  a  tame,  382 

Gobharana,  136,  137,  139 

Godaisan',  321 

"  Goddess  of  Mercy,"  101,  267 

' <  God  of  war,"  373 

Gods  of  Brahmanism,  58-60, 186-7, 

366  ff. ;  and  see  Brahmanism  and 

Hinduism 

Taoism,  see  Taoism. 

Golden  Island,  Monastery  of,  341 
"Golden    Man,"    a,     Ming    Ti's 

vision  of,  136 
Gondophares     or    Gondophernes, 

36 
Gotama,  94,  177,  181,  294-5  ;  and 

see  Buddha  and  Sakyamuni 
Graeco-Indian  Buddhist  art,  287 
Grand  Lamas  of  Tibet,  231-2 
Graves    of  monks   of  Puto-shan, 

378-9 
Great   Vehicle,    the,  25,   32,  34; 

and  see  Mahayana 
Greek  mythology,  14,  202,  203 

philosophy,  144-5 

pilgrimages,  126 

Gregory  of  Nyssa,  St,  130 
Groot,  Prof.   J.   J.   M.    De,    164 

298,  377 


Grotesque,  the,  in  religious  art, 

279 

Growse's  Matliura  cited,  110 
Gutzlatf,  Charles,  261 

HAIMAVANTAS,    members     of    the 

School  of  the  Snowy  Mountains, 

25 

Halensis,  Alexander,  79 
Half-way-to-the-sky,  223,  230 
Hall   and    Bernard's    Nemesis  in 

China,  261 

Hamilton,  Lord  Ernest,  cited,  99 
Han  dynasty,  265 
Hangchow,  258,  321,  324 
Hardoon      edition     of    Buddhist 

scriptures,  ix. 
Hardy,  E.,  24 

,  Spence,  246 

Headlam,  Rev.  A.  C.,  58 

Hearn,  Lafcadio,  200 

"  Heart,"  Buddha  to  be  found  in 

the,  83-6,  206 

,  seals  of  the,  84 

,  the    human,  showing  good 

and  bad  qualities,  112-13 
Heath,  Sidney,  quoted,  129 
Heaven,  58-60,  61,  62,  78,  96  ff., 

103-21,    152,    153,    176,    180, 

267,  272-3,  285 

,  Altar  of,  5 

Heavenly  Kings,  Hall  of  the,  366- 

72,  374-5 

"  Heaven's  Window,"  300 
Hedin,  Sven,  297 
Hell,  61-3,  106-8,  145,  170,  172, 

178-80,  181-206,  237-8 
Hera,  the  goddess,  290 
Heraclitus,  54 
Herman  of  Cologne,  284 
Hermes,  203 
"Hermitage  of  the  Tide-waves," 

359 
Hermits,    Chinese,    13,    14,    19, 

131,  140,  207  ff.,  244-5,  250 /., 

338,  382 

Hero-worship  in  China,  247-8,  251 
Hetuvada,    Causationalist  school, 

34  ;  and  see  Sarvastavadins 
Hibil  Ziwa,  202 
Hierapolis,  126,  289 
Hills  and  streams,  gods  of  the,  224 
Hinayclna,  25  /.,  32,  33-5,  56  /., 

114,  277,  368 


396 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Hinayana  and  Mahayana,  39  ff., 

56  ff.,  114,  277-8 
Hindu  pilgrimages,  126-7,  157 
Hinduism,  24,   58-60,   144,    157, 

203-4,   270,  279,  285,  366-9, 

377 
Him,  Prof.  Yrjo,  cited,  100,  210, 

269,  287,  297,  365 
History  and  religion,  58,  114  ff.} 

174,  176 /.,  277 
Hoffding,  120 
Holy  Grotto  of  the  Flower  of  the 

Law,  356 

Mother,  the,  181,  268,  278 

Sepulchre,  the,  129 

Hooker  cited,  46 
Horai  of  Homer,  369 
Hugo  of  St  Victor,  85 
Hui-chou,  258 
Hydropotes  inermis,  381 

IDOLATRY,  261-2,  302  ff. ;  and  see 

Images,  religious  use  of 
Ignatius  Loyola,  St,  84 
Images,  religious  use  of,  86,  93, 

189-90,  292-3,  302-6 
Imperial    patronage    of  Buddhist 

monasteries,  223,  235,  241,  293, 

320,  331 /.,  334 /. 
Inclusio,  297 
India,   Buddhism    in,    15,  20  ff.9 

23,  141,  195,    197,  203-4,  215, 

270,  287,  294,  315,  320 

,  pilgrimages  in,  126-7,  157 

Indo-Scythians,   mission  to  king 

of,  23,  136 
Indra,  175,  186 
Indulgences,      Roman      Catholic 

theory  of,  79 

Infant  damnation,  63,  107 
Infinite,  the,  177  ;  and  see  Space 

and  time 
Inge,  Dean  W.R./54,  55,  74,  108, 

119,  173 

Ink,  manufacture  of  Chinese,  258 
Inspiration,  Biblical,  116-17 
"  Inspired  Drunkard,3'  the,  218 
Invocations  of  name  of  Amitabha, 

99/.,  109 /. 
lona,  abbot  of,  150 
Iranian  mythology,  195 
Ireland,  125,  137,  348 
f<  Irrefragable  Doctor,"  the,  79 
Ise,  Japanese  shrines  of,  127,  377 


Ishtar,  269 
Isis  at  Busiris,  125 
Islam,  24,  126,  295 
Isvara,  270 

Itineraria,    Pilgrims'    Handbooks 
in  Christendom,  150 

JACOBI,  H.,  286 

' '  Jade  Imperial  God  "  of  Taoism, 

376 

Jagannatha  in  Orissa,  127 
James  of  Compostella,  St,  125 

,  William,  63 

Japan,  Buddhism  in,  17,  35,  78, 

90,  92,  95,  99,  100,  101,  104-5, 

114-16,  119,  127,  199-200,  266, 

274,  280,  303-5,  320-1,  341 

,  cherry  and  maple  in,  133 

,  folklore  of,  348 

Japanese  intercourse  with  Cheh- 

kiang  and  Puto-shan,  271,  320 

/.,  326,  335,  341-2 

mythology,  202,  377 

pilgrimages,  127,  133 

Java,  island  of,  361-2 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  58,  85,  239 

Jeta,  Prince,  230 

Jhana,  29,  30,  313,  321,  349,  364; 

and  see  Dhyana 
Jimmu  Tenno,  127 
Jinas,  the  five,  94,  97 
Jizo,  199-200 
Jodo  sect,  95 
Johannine  Gospel,  101 
John  of  Damascus,  119 
Jonson,  Ben,  217 
Juggernaut,  127 
Justin  Martyr,  119 

KAKUSANBHA,  94 

Kalasa,  vial  carried  by  bodhisats, 

285 

Kalpa,  98,  106-7,  115 
Kanakamuni,  94 
Kanishka,  23,  26/.,  36 
Kapimala,  30 
Karma,  62-4,  113,  118,  178,  182, 

186 

Kashmir,  21,  26,  33,  34,  320 
,  Buddhist  Council  of,  26  ff., 

29,  32-4,  37 

Kassapa,  94  ;  and  see  Kasyapa 
Kasyapa,  94,  155,  375 
,  the  Buddha,  280 


GENERAL   INDEX 


397 


Kasyapa  -  Mataiiga,  136  ;  and  see 

Mataiiga 

Katyayani-putra,  27 
Kendall,  Miss  E.,  142 
Kennedy,  J.,  26,  29,  34,  39 
Kern  cited,  276,  286 
Khandas,  52  ;  and  see  Skandhas 
Khema  the  nun,  52-3 
Khotan,  28 

Kingsmill,  T.  W.,  36-7 
Kobo  Daislii,  founder  of  Shingon 

sect  of  Buddhism  in  Japan,  127, 

266 

Kokka,  The,  cited,  105 
Ko-ko-ryo,   a   Korean    kingdom, 

213 

Konagamana,  94 
Koran,  351 
Korea,  211-13 
Koxinga,  344 

Koya,  Mount,  in  Japan,  127 
Krakuchandra,  94 
Krishna,  110,  203 
Kshitigarbha,  170  ff. 
Kublai  Khan,  334 
Kumarajiva,  27,  272 
Kushan     kings,     26 ;     and     see 

Kanishka 

Kwannon,  100,  267 
Kyoto,  320 

Laksmi,  286 

Lamaism,  94,  238 

Land  and  grain,  gods  of  the,  224 

Lao-chihi,  see  Lao-tzu 

Lao-tzu,  2,  13  ;  and  see  Taoism 

"Laughing   Buddha,"   the,    367, 

370 
Laura  of  Western   monasticism, 

297 

Lecky's  European  Morals  cited,  241 
Le  Coq,  287 

Levitation  of  the  body,  251,  255 
Lhasa,  231,  271 
Liang  dynasties,  267 
Libraries,  see  Monastic  libraries 
Life,  Buddhist  view  of  sanctity  of, 

182-3,  236 
Lilley,  Canon,  9 
Limbo,  63,  107 
Little,  A.,  142 

Puto,  343 

White    Flower,   Island    of 

the,  271,  323,  343,  347 


Lives     of    the    Buddhist     Saints, 

364 
Lloyd,  Prof.  Arthur,  37,  38,  41, 

84,  304 

Loigaire,  king  of  Ireland,  137 
Lokesvararaja,  96,  99 
"  Lord  of  Fate,"  187-9 
Loretto,  Holy  House  at,  125 
Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,  269,  272, 

276,    280,    283,   295;    and    see 

Saddharmapundarika 

-  symbolism   in  Buddhism,  1, 
98,    103-7,    108-9,     139,    217, 
285-6,  287,  336 

Lourdes,  Our  Lady  of,  125 

Love,  Buddhism  a  religion  of,  71- 

81,  101,  102,  152-3,  191,  194  /., 

267/.,339 
Lucifer,  199 
Lucy,  St,  284 

MACARTNEY,  LORD,  324 

Macedonia,  21 

Macgowan,  D.  J.,  341 

MacRitchie,  D.  300 

Madeley,  F.,  376 

Magic,  111-12,    188,  246,    252-6, 

265-6,  278 

Mahabharata,  195,  203 
Mahabhuta,  144 
Mahakasyapa,  29 
Mahasanghika  school,  77 
Mahasattva,  77 
Mahasthama     bodhisattva,      100, 

103,     288  ;     and    see    Chinese 

Index,  s.v.  Ta-shih-chih 
Mahavibhasha,  33,  34 
Mahayana,   25  /.,  32  /.,  36  /., 

152,  276,  and  passim. 

-  and     Christianity,     36-40; 


itreya    bodhisattva,    94,     177, 
200,273,285,367^370,371 
~ 


Malevolence  of  devils  riot  directed 
against  virtuous  persons,  185-6, 
187-9,  198-9 

Maluukyaputta,  45 

Manchu  dynasty,  vi.,  vii.,  340-1, 
355,  373,  378 

Mandseism,  39,  202 

Mandalay,  168,  329 

Mangoes,  story  of  the  non 
existent,  49-51 


398 


GENERAL   INDEX 


ManichaBism,  39,  377 
Manju.4rl,  176,  177 
Mantra  Buddhism,  94 
Maim,  Laws  of,  279 
Marichi,     a     Brahmanical     deity 
borrowed  by  Buddhism,  279,  287 
Martin  of  Tours,  St,  125 
Maspero,  H.,  326 
Matahga,  136,  137,  139 
Matsyendranath,  291 
Maximinus,  284 
Maxim  us  the  Confessor,  119 
Maya,  the  mother  of  Buddha,  175, 

181,  277-280 
Mead,  G.  R.  S.,  55,  377 
Mecca,  126 
Medhurst,  W.  H.,  261 
Medina,  tomb  of  Mohammed  at, 

126 
"  Meditation "        Buddhas       and 

bodhisats,  94 
Mencius,  134-5 
Mendicancy,  Buddhist,  163-4, 

167-9 

Meru,  Mount,  368 
Meshhed  'Ali  in  Nejef,  126 
"Messiah"    of    Buddhism,    273, 

367  5  and  see  Maitreya 
Metempsychosis,   153,   174,    178, 

182,  196 

Metteya  bodhisat,    94 ;    and    see 

Maitreya 
Miliuda,    dialogues   of   king,    48 

49,  61,  64,  65 
Milton's  Comus,  198 
Mimoro,     sacred     mountain     in 

Japan,  348 
Ming  dynasty,  19,  235,  240,  253,  / 

338-9,  340,  342,  357,  360 
Minucius  Felix,  111,  119 
Miracles,   57-8,    89,   137,    138-9, 

210,  252-6,  263-4,  265-6,  292-3, 

300 /.,  322,  323,  324,  332 

in     Christianity,    58,    137, 

210 

Miraculous,      Buddha's     attitude 

towards  the,  57 
Missionaries,  Christian,  in  China, 

63,    123,    261-4,    353,    371-2, 

375-7 

of  Buddhism,  20-24,  135-6 

Mithraism,  37-8,  39,  203,  290 
Modernism,  114,  309 

Buddhist,  308 


Mohammedans,  24,  126,  295 

Monasteries,  Buddhist,  v.  viii., 
ix.,  x.,  4,  18,  19,  42,  82,  86-7, 
93,  140  ff.,  149-68,  209,  215  /., 
238-9,  312-89 

Monastic  libraries,  235,  338-9, 
345,  373 

Monasticism,  Confucian  condemna 
tion  of,  137,  225-8 

Mongol  dynasty,  271,  334 

Monks,  names  for  Buddhist,  88, 
164 

MOJHI,- wor&hijv  376-8 


Moral  education,  congress  on,  9 
Morals    and    religion,    6-12,    79, 

99,    102,    109-12,  130-2,  151- 

69,    226-9,   250,    295-7,   308-9, 

318-19 
"""**-  ~-<rf    "Chinese     monasteries, 

318-19 
Moscow,  190 
Mother  of  Buddha,  277-80  ;  and 

see  Maya. 

Moule,  Bishop,  116-17 
Mountains,    Sacred,    4,    19,    127, 

131,  133,  134-48,  149  ff.,  337, 

338-9,  382 /.,  388 

,  spirits  of  the,  224 

Mountains,  worship  of,  in  China, 

139   ff.,    146-8,    149    ff.,    223-4, 

337-8,  382 /.,  388-9 
Mughal  emperors,  351 
Miiller,  Max,  35,  71-2 
Mummies,  see  Preservation  of 

dead  bodies. 

Mylitta,  the  goddess,  269 
Mysteries,  pagan,  38 
Mysticism,  53-5,  77,  83-6,97, 101,1 

114,    119-20,   144,  174 /.,  181,| 
^Jte-Gj-^^gft ; 

NAGARJUNA,  30,  90 

Nagasena,  49,  61,  64,  65,  83 

Nalanda,  40 

Name,   invocations  of   holy,   99, 

102-3,  109-12 
Nameless  spirits,  224 
Nara,  320 

Nativity  of  Buddha,  the,  277 
(f  Neighing  Horses,"  the,  27 
Neoplatoiiism,  120 
Nepal,  24,  78,  94,  291 
Nestorianism,  274 
"New  Buddhism,"  the,  37,  39 


GENERAL   INDEX 


599 


Nibbana,  see  Nirvana. 

Nietzsche,  76 

Nilwngi,  348 

Nine-dragon  Hall,  372 

Ningpo,  259,  262,  316,  327 

Nirmanakaya,  77 

Nirvana,  25,  43,  44,  51-3,  62,  66, 

68,  118-21,  177,  183 
Nomen  est  numen,  111 
Norfolk,  pilgrimages  in,  129 
Northern  and  southern  branches 

of  Ch'an  Buddhism,  87,  88 
' '  Northern  Monastery  "  of  Puto- 

shan,  312,  314,  316,  350,  351, 

354,  356-73 
Nuns,  Buddhist,  52-3,  379 

OAK-TREES  on  Puto-shan,  374,  380, 
Obaku  subdivision  of  the  Zen  sect, 

321 

"  Ocean-guardian  Monastery," 360 
Oldenberg  cited,  44,  45,  53,  246 
Ontake,  sacred  hill  in  Japan,  127 
Ophites,  39 
Ordination,    Buddhist,    142,   223, 

297-8,  308,  316-17 

—   certificates,   Buddhist,  149- 

50 

Origen,  119 

"  Origin  of  Buddhism,  the,"  27 
Orpheus,  290 
Orphic  mysteries,  289 
Orphism/305 
Osiris,  111 

PADMAPANI,  94,  285,  286 

"  Pagoda'of  the  Prince,"  314,  328 

Paik-chyoi,    a    Korean    kingdom, 

213 
Pali  canon,  24,  32,  35,  39-40  ;  and 

see  Buddhist  Canon. 
Palmistry,  234 
Panch-kosT,  126 
Paradise,   78,    103  /.,    181,   273, 

285,  325-6  ;  and  see  Heaven. 
Paramartha,  27,  33,  34 
Parsva,  26 
Parthia,  26 
Pascal  Baylon,  210 
Paschasius,  284 
Patriarchs  of  Buddhism,  27  ff.,  83, 

86 /. 

Patrick,  St,  137,  348 
Paul,  St,  84,  108 


Peach,  magical  properties  of,  252- 
3,266 

Peking,  190 

Pelagius,  67 

Peri,  N.,  326 

Persecutions  of  Buddhism  by  Con 
fucianism,  10,  137  ;  and  see  Con 
fucianism. 

Persia,  15,  37,  195,  289 

Personality,  mystery  of,  53-5,  81 
— ,  treatment  of  problem  of,  by 
Eastern  and  Western  thinkers, 

43,  48-55,    81,    118    ff.,    174, 
175 

Peru,  126 

Peter,  First  Epistle  of  St,  202 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  the,  128 

Pilgrim-seasons,  132-3 

Pilgrimages,  125-48,  149-69 

— -,  Buddhist,  122  ff.,  148,  149- 

69,    219-20,    222,    232,    233- 

4,    236-9,   243,    256,   298,  300, 

316,  374,  386,  388 

—  in  Christendom,  125,  127-33, 

150 

Pilgrims,  Chinese,  in  India,  40 
Pilgrim's  Guide,  The,  149-69 
"  Pines  and  Fountains,"  244 
Pirates   at    Puto-shan,    327,    335, 

342,  343-8,  351,  360,  384 
Plato,  305 

Platonic  methods,  85 
Plotinus  cited,  46 
Poetry  and  art  in  China,  v.,  vi., 

vii.,   4,   13-15,  16,  17-19,    117, 

216-19,    232-3,   244,  251,  335, 

338,  382-5 

history,     Aristotle's 

views  on,  113-14 
"  Political   Futurism  "    of  "  First 

Emperor  "  of  China,  22 
Politics  and  morals,  7-12 

religion,  7-12 

Polo,  Marco,  123 

"Pope"  of  Taoism,  354 

Porcelain  Pagoda,  337 

Positivism,  132 

Potala  or  Potalaka,  270,  313 

Potthapada,  45 

Poussin,  L.   de  la   Vallee,    cited, 

44,  73,  77,  94,  101,  246,  270, 
285 

Prana-yama,  246 
Pranidhana,  68,  96,  97-8 


400 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Prayer  in  Buddhism  and  Chris 
tianity,  263-4,  306-11 

Prayer  of  the  Jhdna  School,  307, 
309-11 

Prayers  of  pilgrims,  236-8 

Preservation  of  dead  bodies,  230-2, 
239-40 

Pringle-Pattison,  A.  S.,  120 

Pseudo-Dionysius,  119 

Pulpit  of  Kuan-yin,  the,  313-14, 
325 

Pure-land  sect,  92  /., '96-121, 
272,  288  ;  and  see  Amidism 

Purgatory,  61,  62,  63,  98,  106-8, 
173,  237-8 

Pythagorean  teachings,  305 

QUEEN  OF  HEAVEN,  the,  268,  279, 

366,  367 
"Queer   Fellow,"   the,    of  Chiu- 

hua-shan,  245 
Quetzalcoatl,  126 
Qur'an,  351 

RAIN-MAKING  spells,  254-5,  286 
Rain  of  the  Good  Law,  365,  389, 
"  Rain  of  the  Law,"  Monastery  of 

the,  356-73 
Ramayana,  203 
Ratnapani,  94 
Ratnasambhava,  94 
Ravana,  203 

"Red-hairs,"  343^,  363 
Redemption,  177-206,  346 
Reformation   in    Europe,    127-8, 

131-2 

Regula  Benedicti,  318 
Reischauer,  A.  K.,  115 
Relics,  Buddhist,  315-16,  324 
Religion  and  history,  58,  114-116 
morals,  7-12,  99  ;  and 

see  Morals  and  religion 

science,  116 

Religious  policy  in  China,  6  ff, 
Retribution,  182,  185,  187 
Revolution  in  China,  6  ff.,  123-4, 

248-9 
Richard  of  St  Victor,  85 

,  Dr  Timothy,  37,  38,  41 

Rinzai  subdivision  of  the  Zen  sect 

(Japanese),  321 
Rishi  (mountain  wizards),  14,  215, 

245,  266-7 
Robertson,  J.  M.,  269,  270 


Roman  pilgrimages,  125,  126 
Rome,  Apostolic  tombs  at,  125 

,  Image-worship  at,  190 

Roof- tiles  of  temples  of  Puto-shan, 
328,  372,  374 

SABATIEB,  AUGUSTS,  309 
"  Sacred  fish,"  290-2 
Saddharmapundarlka,     90,     269, 

272,  276,  280,  283,  295 
Sadhus  (Indian  ascetics)  157,  296 
Saints,  cult  of,  in  Europe,  125-6, 

127-9 

paivite  deities,  24 
Sakyamuni,   2,  94,   95,   99,   104, 

155,    315,    329,    375;   and    see 

Buddha,  Buddhism,  etc. 
Salette,  La,  in  Dauphine,  125 
Salvation  Army,  102 
Samantabhadra,  94 
Sambhogakaya,  77,  97 
Sanday,  Dr,  49,  85 
"  Sands  of  a  thousand  paces,"  357 
Sangha,  152 
Sanskrit,    use    of,    for    Buddhist 

literature,  32,  33-5,  40 
Santi-Deva,  69,  204 
Sariputta,  56-7,  61 
Sarvastivadins,  32-4 
Satan  unknown  to  Buddhism,  197- 

8,  199 

"  Saved,"  nine  classes  of  the,  105-7 
Saviours    incarnated     in    human 

form,  39,  76-9,  78,  96,  267,  274 
Scenery,  insensibility  of  Europeans 

to  wild,  263 
Schiller,  F.  C.  S.,  55 
School,  boys',  at  Puto-shan,  314 
Schools  and   sects   of  Buddhism, 

23-5,   41    ff.,   56    ff.,   61,   82- 

112 

Schopenhauer,  75 
Schrader,  Dr  F.  Otto,  52 
Science  and  religion,  116-7 
Scotland,  pilgrimages  in,  129 
,    Sacred   well  and  cave  in, 

300 

Scott,  Sir  George,  22 
Sects  and   schools,  41-2,    56,  61, 

82-112 
Seishi,  100 ;  and  see  Mahasthama 

bodhisattva 

Sekhet  at  Bubastis,  125 
Selbie,  Rev.  J.  A.,  quoted,  18 


GENERAL  INDEX 


401 


Self,  the,  in  philosophy,  43,  48- 

55,  66-81,  118  /.,  174 
Self -culture    and    self  -  sacrifice, 

reconciliation  of,  81 
Self-immolation  by  fire,  295,  341 
Self,  reliance  on,  67,  73  / 
Self-sacrifice,  68-81,  152-3 
Semitic  pilgrimages,  126 
Sergeant,  P.  W.,  355 
Serpent-lore,  348 
Serpents  at  Puto-shan,  347-8 
Sex  of  Kuan-yin,  101,  103,  267- 

70,  273-6,  353 
Sextus-Pythagoricus,  46 
Shakespeare,  217 
Shan  states  and  peoples,  22,  265 
Shanghai,  259 
Shantung,  spirits  of  the  soil  in, 

225 

Shin-gon  sect  (Japan)  94 
Shirishu  (Japanese  Buddhist  sect), 

95,  115 

Shinto,  133,  377 

Ship,  symbolism  of,  103,  200,  269 
Shock-headed  Tsfai,  244-5 
Shodo  Kowa,  304 
Showermaii,  Dr  Grant,  38 
Shun,  the  emperor,  140 
Siam,  Buddhism  in,  17,  168,  211- 

12,  218 
Silence   of    Buddha   on    ultimate 

problems,  43-8 
Sil-la,   a   Korean   kingdom,   211- 

13 

Siva,  270 
Skandhas,  49,  52 
Small  Vehicle,  the,  25  ;   and  see 

Hinayana 
Smith,  Mr  V.  A.,  28-9,  277,  279, 

287 
Snakes,    poisonous,   unknown    at 

Puto,  348,382 
Snowy  mountains,  School  of  the, 

25 

"  Society  of  God,"  337 
Soil,  god  of  the,  224-6 
Sorrow,  annihilation  of,  43,  44, 

58 
Soto  subdivision  of  the  Zen  sect, 

321 
Soul,  Buddhist  speculations  as  to 

the,  43,  48-55 

of  China,  18-19 

" Southern  Monastery"  of  Puto- 


shan,  312  /.,  316  f.,   328-54, 

356,  365,  367,  383 
Southern  Sacred  Mountain  (Nan 

Yo)  88,  89 
South   Sea   Islanders,  mythology 

of,  202 
Space  and  time,  treatment  of,  in 

Buddhism,  113-16, 174,  176  ff., 

369 
Spells  and  charms,  112  ;  and  see 

Name,  invocation  of  holy 
Spencer,  Herbert,  74,  75 
"  Spiritual  Glory,"  the,  240 
Rock,"     the,      of     Puto- 
shan,  313 
Spiritual  side  of  Chinese  culture, 

7,  8,  9-10,  13,  14,  16-19 
"  Splendid  vices,"  99 
£raddhotpada-sastra,  37 
Sri,  286 
Srinagar,  34 
"Star  of  the  Sea,"  269 
Stein,  Sir  Aurel,  287 
Stephen,  Sir  Leslie,  75 
Stoicism,  74-5 
Stupas    or    pagodas    erected    by 

Asoka,  22 
Sturt,  Henry,  274 
Subliminal  self,  85 
Sudatta,  230,  231 
Suffrin,  A.  E.,  288 
Suicide  Cliff,  131 
Sukhavati  siitras,  95 
,    the    " Happy    Laud"    or 

Western   Heaven,  96  ff.,   121, 

267,  288 

Sun-worship,  376-8 
Sung  dynasty,  19,  143,  144,  251 
Superstition,  4,  12,  13,  16-17,  86, 

93,  102,  109-12,  124  ff.f  237-9, 

243 
Susa-no-o,    Japanese    moon-god, 

377 

Suso,  Henry,  70,  294-5 
Sutta  Nipata,  72 
Suzuki,  T.,  27,  37,  77 
Sweet  Dew,  Monastery  of,  223 
Swinburne  quoted,  260 
(Symbolism,  86,  93,  103  /.,  11 4  j 
121,  172-3,  174,  176  ff.,  189-90 
/     279,  286,  287,  290-2,  298,  30& 
LJ5;,  309,  365,  378,  389 

Sympathetic  magic,  188  1 

Syria,  21,  289,  291 

2  c 


402 


GENERAL   INDEX 


TABRIZ,  126 

Tada  Kanai,  303-5 

T'ai  Cffian,  Le,  by  Ed.  Chavannes, 

224 
Tfai-pfing  Rebellion,   222,   223, 

230,  233,  235-6,  239,  258,  337, 

341 

Takakusu,  J.,  33,  34,  286 
Tamo,  30  ;  and  see  Bodhidharma 
T'ang  dynasty,  19, 117,  250-1, 271 
Tantric  Buddhism,  24,  94,  170-1, 

245,  278,  287  ^ 

\  Taoism,  1-3,  4,  12-15,  17,  46,  49,? 

102,  112,  134,  137-40,  143,| 
\  144-5,  148,  162,  166,  169,  213-j 
I  15,  221,  245,  246,  251,  268, 
I  269,  337,  354,  366,  373,  376, 
/  377,378 

2£aoist,  closing  of  temples,  12      ^ 
Tashilhunpo,  231 
Tathagata,  51,  52,  53 
Tavatimsa,  Pali  for  Trayastrimsa, 

jf.«. 

Taylor,  A.  E.,  74 
Tea,  cultivation  of,  by  Buddhist 

monks,  221,  381 
Ten  Thousand  Buddhas,  Temple 

of,  243 

Tendai  School  (Japanese),  90 
Tennyson,  116 
Theologia  Germanica,  54 
Therapeutse,  289 
Theravada,  School  of  the  Elders 

or  Apostles,25;  andsee  Hinayana 

and  Haimavantas 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  the,  99 
Thomas,  St,  36-7,  42,  375-6 
Thompson,  Rev.  J.  M.,  58,  114 
Three  Holy  Ones,  the,  151-2 
"Three  Refuges,"  the,  152,  308 
Religions  of  China,"  1  /., 

354 

Through  Shen-kan,  376 
Tibet,  94,  146,  231-2,  270-1,  287, 

297,  372 

Time,  see  Space  and  time 
Timour  Khan,  334 
"Tinted  Clouds,"  Temple  of,  243 
Tolerant  principles  of  Buddhism, 

40,  87,  330 
Toleration,    religious,   in    China, 

7 /.,  87,  352-3,  354,  364 
Tombs     of    monks,     Puto-shan, 

378-9 


"  Tower  of  Heaven,"  243-4 
Tracts,  Buddhist,  102  /., 
Tranquil  Mind,  Rock  of  the,  223 
Transferred    merit  of   bodhisats 

78-9 
Transitus  Sanctae  Mariae  cited,  99- 

100 
Translation  of  Buddhist  scriptures 

into  Chinese,  136,  141 
Transmigration,  153 
Trayastrimsa,  name  of  a  heaven, 

175 
Treasure  of  the  Church,  79,  173 

Ti-tsang,  170,  173 

Tribute  of  Yu  cited,  264 

Trikaya,  27,  77 

Trinitarian  doctrine  of  Buddhism 

27,77 
Tripitaka,  viii.,  ix.,  16,  33-5,  338- 

9,     341-2;    and    see     Buddhist 

Canon 

Turkestan,  Chinese,  26,  28,  146 
Tushita  Heaven,  177,  367 
Tyrrell,  George,  died,  99,  121 

UNDERBILL,  E.,  54,  83,  85,   86, 

296 

"  Universal  Purity,"  244 
Upanishads,  54 
Upasakas,  lay-Buddhists,  379 

VACCHAGOTTA,  45,  51 
Vairochana  Buddha,  94 
Vaisali,  195 

Vaishnavas  of  Bengal,  1 10 
Vajrapani,  94,  204 
Vasubandhu,  27,  33,  34 
Vasumitra,  26,  27,  34 
Veda,  367,  370 
Vedanta,  54 
Vedic  mythology,  195 

sacrifices,  369 

Vegetarian  diet  of  monks,  380-1 
Via  media  of  Buddha,  295 

negativa,  119-20 

Viharapala,  367,  370 
Vikrama  era,  28,  29 
Vinaya,  91-2,  333,  364, 
Virgin  birth  of  Buddha,  277 

the,    79,    100,    269,    274, 

279,  287 

Vishnu,  126,  203,  285,  286,  290 
Visvapani,  94 
Vivasat/195 


GENERAL   INDEX 


403 


Vows  made  by  bodhisats,  68,  96, 
97-8,  171  ff.,  175,  177-206,  232, 
274 

WADDELL'S  Lhasa  and  its  Mysteries, 
270 

Ward,  James,  49,  75,  120 

Warren's  Buddhism  in  Transla 
tions  cited,  45,  49,  52 

Water-lilies,  Sea  of,  322-6,  336, 
341 

Water-nymph,  Spring  of  the,  232 

Watters'  Yuan  Cliwang  cited,  26, 
29,  33,  34,  270,  284,  286 

Well,  a  sacred,  300 

Western  Lake  (Hangchow)  91 

Paradise,      92     /.,     190, 

325-6  ;  and  see  Heaven 

White-deer  Grotto,  233 
White  Flower  Peak,  373 

Horse,    Monastery   of  the, 

136 

Way    of     Amitabha,     the, 

115,   117 

Williams'  Middle  Kingdom,  The, 
262,  267,  293,  342 


Willow-branch  carried  by  Kuan- 

yin,  282,  284-6,  287 
Wizards  of  Chiu-hua,  252-6 
Wolferstan,  Father,  63 
Womanhood,  idealization  of,  274 
"Wooden    Fish"    of  Buddhism, 

290 

XAVIER,  ST,  FRANCISCO  DE,  263-4 

YAKSHAS  (demons),  179 
Yama-raja,    170,    184-5,    194-7, 

203 

Yami,  195,  197 
"Yellow-hairs,"  343 
Yetts,  W.  Perceval,  232 
Yogacharya  branch  of  Mahayana, 

24 

Yoshio  Noda,  Professor,  119 
Yuddhishthira,  203 
Yuriaku,  a  Japanese  emperor,  348 

ZEN,  sect  of  Buddhism,  321 
Zeus  at  Dodona,  126 
Zockler,  O.,  295 
Zrvana  karana,  290 


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